One More New Cria

During last weekend's snow storm, we were praying that the remaining two female llamas would wait for warmer weather before having their crias. Dazzle still has not given birth but Decorus Domina (aka Baby Dee) gave birth to a little boy on Thursday 10/13. Dee is a first time Mom and she was a bit confused at first as to what was going on but she quickly decided that this baby was hers to love and protect.

Here is the little guy right after being born, making his first attempts at sitting up.

 

Another black llama!

And here is the little guy finally up and taking his first steps. They love to use their momma as a crutch, leaning against them and going round and round them as they get the hang of walking by themselves.

And here is the little guy leaning against his Momma, who has decided to lay down for awhile and rest. 

And here they are getting to know one another. Dee was licking his face and humming to him. It was such a sweet moment of bonding and I'm glad I was there to see it.

And he decided that being born and learning to walk was hard work so he laid down to rest for a bit. Meanwhile, Dee was still licking him and humming to him.

Here is a close-up of his face - he's jet black with white on his muzzle and a small spot of white on his forehead.

I'm stumped for names for this little guy. His Mom's name is Decorus Domina (Latin for beautiful lady). His Dad's name is Viajero (Spanish for traveler). Any suggestions for a name would be welcome!

And we're still waiting for Dazzle to deliver her cria. She was very interested in this cria so I let her in with Dee and the baby and she stayed with them in their area all night long. Normally Dazzle hates to be penned up but this time she was quite content to be there. She seems to have bonded with the baby, too. Dee's baby was much smaller than we anticipated. Chalcedony's cria turned three weeks old the day after Dee delivered and she was 23 pounds at birth. Dee's cria was only 22 pounds. Chalcedony, Dee and Dazzle were all bred on the same day last year. First time moms frequently deliver smaller babies but with Dee's large size and capacity, I did expect a larger cria, even for her first one.

So, we are still patiently waiting for Dazzle's cria to arrive. She's getting bigger and bigger!