First Poop!

It is important that a few things happen in the first 12 to 24 hours of life in a cria (baby llama). The first priority is nursing, the second is defecation. When the fetus is in the womb a plug is made in orifices of the body because all actions take place through the umbilical cord. When the cria is born it needs to pass a plug before it can begin defecating. Its sometimes difficult to push out for a newborn baby. Our little cria passed that plug today about an hour ago, or 36 hours after birth. How do we know it was her first time? Let's take a look:

This is what her "plug" looked like. It is soft, striated, has almost no scent, and is has mucus in it. Her regular stool should look more like little llama pellets, or like rabbit pellets. If you don't know what llama or rabbit poop look like, then google it.

Llamas also all defecate in a few specified areas. This is similar to habits in wild camelid species, like the guanaco, from which the llama was domesticated. Here (below) the cria learns to defecate in the "poop pile."

When the cria is first born the bones and ligaments have not all set completely. She will look a little crooked for the first few weeks until she grows into her body. Here (below) is a picture from the front, to show her wobbly legs.

Another picture demonstrating how stretchy the newborn cria is:

While the cria is wobbly, her strength is astounding. She climbs up and down the hill all by herself within 24 hours:

Last, but certainly not least, here is a video of some "baby steps":