# Help me make a decision people!



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

OK, I just got off the phone with the woman I am getting the Alpacas from, she has Huacayas. Well, she also has a pair of Suris, on Black, and one Honey colored.
The Suris aren't hers, but the woman who owns them is keeping them at this other womans house. The Suri owner only wants 100.00 each for them! They aren't registered, but I'm not concerned about that right now.
The Huacayas are registered, and I can trade the woman with them for three of my wethers for two of hers.
She has two whites, and several in brown shades, and a black also...

I'm so conflicted!!!!:hair

I love the look of the Suri, all those awesome dreadlocks, and the fiber is like silk, but the Huacaya is also really nice...ohhhh what to do?
I can afford to just buy the Suris, and still trade for the Huacayas, but then I have 4 instead of 2, and I still need to sell at least 10 of these lambs off...
Then again, If I get the bottom pasture sectioned off, and build another shed...
REEL ME IN PEOPLE!!!!:smack


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Go for it! Hahahahahaha its so easy to type.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

:heh:

Yuh know yuh wunna.......

:kiss:























:heh:



.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

> REEL ME IN PEOPLE!!!!


I know the feeling :hysterical::hysterical:
Get the ones you love :thumb:,


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

There is a disconnect here somewhere....

Do you really think we would reel you in? :umno:

If you can afford them and if you have pasture space for them and you want them then I would say life is short. Go for it. If there is that little twitchy voice inside that says, "I really need to stick with the plan to get just the two" then listen to that inner voice. 

I will tell you what Granny Annie would say. The same thing I told WIHH at Shepherd's Harvest when she was thinking about that wheel. "Will you be sorry if you do or sorry if you don't?" 

(I would personally snap them up if they are healthy and the fiber is good and in colors that you want. But that's just me. I once had 15 horses at my farm so I'm probably NOT the person to do any reeling...)


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## donnalynn (Apr 25, 2014)

Ahhhh.....go for it and spin, spin spin


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## MamaRed (Dec 18, 2013)

Silly, silly, silly! You really thought you'd get reeled in by this bunch?!?!:smack:nana:

Do the Suris and Huacayas get along? My two boys have been buddies since they were babies, and act like brothers, which can be pretty entertaining at times. I'm finding them very easy to care for. Maybe they're like kids. You know. Once you have two, what's one, or two, or three more? If it makes your decision any easier, everybody I've talked to says it's better to have 3 or more, than just 2.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

I should have known better......
I have until the 14th to make my decision...or run more fence....and build another shed.....:smack :nana:


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

For what it's worth, I've been seeing advertisements for cheap alpacas lately. In the local to Denver Craig's List, there was a posting for herd of two (unrelated) females along with a male and they were asking either $500 or $100 for the trio, I forget which. Someone on our island gave away six of them last year. For some reason alpacas are not expensive anymore.

So, if you like the critters get them, but don't jump on them because you think it's a deal that won't show up again. If you wanted to do an "alpaca rescue" you could probably get a lot of them.


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

They really don't eat that much. They do better in the bigger group..herd animals. Are they all girls? Girls and boys? I'll go into the boys more if some are male. About the whites, you'll need to find out the eye color. The blue eyed whites have a high occurrence of deafness. And then the marbled look of the eye...merle I think it's called..can be blind also I think. It's been a while since I researched it. My blue eyed white merle is deaf but not blind. She functions just fine and it took me a long time to spot it.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

If I wasn't saving for knee surgery....I'd do it in a minute!! Sorry, I'm no help but you did ask our opinions.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Yup, you are going to get 4 paca and love them to pieces and so will DH. Do it!!!!


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

hotzcatz said:


> For what it's worth, I've been seeing advertisements for cheap alpacas lately. In the local to Denver Craig's List, there was a posting for herd of two (unrelated) females along with a male and they were asking either $500 or $100 for the trio, I forget which. Someone on our island gave away six of them last year. For some reason alpacas are not expensive anymore.
> 
> So, if you like the critters get them, but don't jump on them because you think it's a deal that won't show up again. If you wanted to do an "alpaca rescue" you could probably get a lot of them.


They are all males, the white ones have brown eye's. So I guess I'm covered there.
Two are all grown up bottle babies, all 4 are between 3 and 6 years old....
It isn't the price at all that's got me, it's the silly faces!
Love those faces!


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

Hercsmama - Let me first apologize because I get so excited about animals and I really want to be excited with you but you need to know a couple things and I hope I don't come off like a big downer. 

Berserk Male Syndrome - I'm just gonna give you a link and then you can research from there and see what you think. Watch for this with bottle raised alpacas.

http://www.shagbarkridge.com/info/aggressv.html


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## MamaRed (Dec 18, 2013)

Uh oh. I'm with RB. "Bottle fed" in male alpacas is a huge red flag. I ran into one at the last rescue I worked on. First he body-checked me. I chalked it up to him being in a stressful situation and calmly walked away. He immediately charged, and jumped up on my back. His front knees landed in my lower back. We were told later that he had quite a history of this behavior. That was 3ish weeks ago and the bruise is almost gone. The rescue was able to find a woman who works with berserk males. Otherwise, he would have been put down because he was unplaceable.

Of course that's not all bottle boys, but that's a big determining factor. Have a real honest talk with the owner about their behavior, and spend time in the pen with them - cautiously - to make sure everybody is cool with each other. I would hate to see you end up with an animal you can't be around. Especially, when there are so many sweet boys around.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Good to know. I do know that these guys are with an all male herd, or whatever a group of Alpacas are called.
She did say the two are more likely to come up to you, but I'll ask her about any aggressive tendencies.
Mind you, this woman is family, a cousin of dh's, so I'd think the last thing she'd do is sell me dangerous animals, but I'll look into it a bit more.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Are they gelded? That can sometimes help with that berserk behavior. They can be very dangerous if you aren't aware. 

I think I would want hands on the fleeces to see how they are too. As we all know, not all Alpaca are soft and wonderful.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I don't know, MW.......


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## MamaRed (Dec 18, 2013)

Oh, good! I'm glad it's family and someone you can trust. Having worked with alpacas for a little bit now, I really love them and hate to even bring up the berserks, for fear somebody will think it's a common thing. On the other hand, it's really scary and hurts to be clobbered from behind. I hope you're able to get all 4, and they live happily ever after in your new alpacaland.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

What was it you said to me?? Oh right..GET THE DANG SHEEP! (but in this case, replace sheep with alpacas :gaptooth


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