As we get calls for our animals to come to different venues, I suggest a llama. This year, in all but two cases, my contact asks, “What else do you have?” Every time anyone sees or hears about one of our llamas, it seems the first thing that is said is, “Llamas spit! I have a friend…”
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| Does this look like a 'spitter?" Abinadi loves to meet people -- and, looking into his big eyes with long eyelashes, everyone wants to give him a kiss. |
Do llamas spit? Well,
they can. Usually the spitting occurs
between llamas over food. Sometimes
people get in the way and they get spit upon.
If a llama really spits AT a person, the llama may have been hand-raised
and never learned llama etiquette. Have
I been spit at? Well, yes. My very sweet boy, Abinadi, threw quite a fit
during shearing this year and let go with some dry spit – he had barbed wire
stuck in his tail – a place shearers don’t often go (and maybe won’t
again). However, the dry spit is a
warning, and while annoying, it is nothing like what happens between llamas or
that were directed at my incredibly annoying ram who had taken to ramming one
of the llamas who retaliated with green, gooey globules of spit. It smells; it is gross; it is disgusting!
The truth is that the llama doing the spitting finds it disgusting,
too, and, so, it is really pretty rare to end up covered in a globule of
spit.
I tell people that if they are worried, they need to watch for warning signs that the llama is annoyed. The llama’s ears go back. There is a rumbling in the throat area. The head tilts back. If you haven’t moved away, this is a good time to do so because the next step is….spit! The most common is the dry spit that while bothersome, can mostly be brushed off. However, the green gooey globules are really repellant – which, of course is the whole point.
We’ve never had one of our llamas spit at a visitor or anyone that we have visited (well, except the shearers). We did have a female who would occasionally chase me around trying to nail me, but she is no longer on the farm. So, I guess it can happen (I never knew what set her off, it was very sporadic and she did NOT always warn me – but she was not ‘normal’).
We have two really nice llamas who love attention. They’ve been to llama camp and were even loaned out to a mom and son so they would have the experience of working with a llama (I took our older llama – he did not enjoy camp, so that was his only time). They are well socialized. Our female is especially sweet, in our opinion.
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| Llamas are curious about babies (of any species) and children. The herd 'babysits' for one another. |
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| Liahona at a Live Nativity -- she is, afterall, a South American camel... |
So, do llamas spit?
Well, yes they can, but these two haven’t (at people anyway). Llamas are curious and have been used by the
Incas as pack animals, for their fiber, meat, hide, etc. for thousands of
years. We hope that you don’t deny the
opportunity to meet one because of stories you’ve heard. If you are respectful, Abinadi and Liahona
are really worth meeting!
