Bottle Feeding, Boundaries & Belonging to the Herd

I originally wrote this article while we were in the middle of raising a very premature cria, alpaca named Charles - better known around here as Charlie, or Go Charlie, Go.

At the time, my goal was pretty simple: keep Charlie alive.

What I didn’t fully appreciate yet was that keeping a bottle-fed cria alive and raising that cria to become a healthy, well-adjusted adult alpaca are two different responsibilities. Both of which are equally important.

Today, we also have better language for the behavior I was concerned about. What has traditionally been called Berserk Male Syndrome is more appropriately referred to as Aberrant Behavior Syndrome, or ABS. The older name is still widely recognized, but the behavior is not limited to males.

And despite the name, this is not something an alpaca suddenly “catches” or necessarily something caused by the bottle itself. The concern is what can happen when a young camelid begins relating to humans as though we are members of its own species.

What Does Berserk Male Syndrome Look Like?

A tiny cria running up to you, leaning against your legs, following you everywhere, nibbling at your clothes, rubbing against you, or trying to wrestle can be incredibly cute. The problem is that alpacas don’t stay tiny.

Behaviors that seem harmless in a baby can take on an entirely different meaning when that animal reaches maturity. Camelids naturally use body position, chest contact, pushing, biting, rearing, chasing, and other behaviors when communicating, playing, establishing boundaries, breeding, or competing with one another. An appropriately socialized alpaca directs those behaviors toward other alpacas.

An animal with serious aberrant human-directed behavior may instead charge a person, chest-butt or body-slam them, rear, bite, crowd them aggressively, posture broadside, lower its head and rush toward them, or direct sexual or dominance behavior toward people. These animals are not necessarily “mean.” The much larger problem is that they may no longer recognize an appropriate social boundary between alpaca and human.

That distinction is important. The goal is not to raise alpacas that are frightened of people. The goal is to raise alpacas that are comfortable around people while still understanding that people are not alpacas.

Then There Was Charlie

Charlie was born about four weeks premature and weighed less than seven pounds. His teeth had not erupted, and his dam had absolutely no milk. His temperature was so low that initially we couldn’t even get a reading on the thermometer.

A premature, hypothermic cria that cannot stand or nurse normally is a veterinary emergency. Colostrum is especially time-sensitive because newborn camelids depend upon it for passive immunity, and their ability to absorb those protective antibodies decreases rapidly after birth.

We were in survival mode.

We warmed him and tubed him bovine colostrum. Charlie was extremely weak, and the first week was very touch-and-go. It took days for him to even be able to stand, much less walk around. There were days when maintaining his body temperature was difficult. Even with supplemental warmth, his temperature would drop, and he would crash.

He had the bottle figured out within his first week, but he had to eat frequently to maintain energy. Because we both worked full-time, that created another problem: Charlie came to work with me. For several weeks.

If you’ve ever cared for a critically ill baby animal, you already know what happened next. I became attached. Really attached. And Charlie became very accustomed to me.

The Hard Part Wasn’t Feeding Him

The things we were doing were necessary to keep Charlie alive. The challenge was making sure temporary medical necessity didn’t become Charlie’s permanent way of life.

His dam never developed a bond with him. She eventually accepted another cria that had been rejected by its own mother, while Charlie seemed far more interested in people than in the alpacas around him.

At the time, I kept hoping that continued introductions would eventually make Charlie realize that he was an alpaca and not a pet that could live inside forever. That sounds funny now, but it also gets directly to the point of this article.

As his “adoptive father,” it was hard to back away from him. It was still what he needed.

The Herd Has a Job We Cannot Replace

One of the biggest things we’ve learned is that a bottle-fed cria should still be raised as an alpaca.

Whenever health permits, that means keeping the cria with its dam and/or herd rather than separating it simply because humans are providing the milk. If a cria truly requires a warmer or more controlled medical environment, we should still look for ways to maintain safe camelid contact whenever possible - an adjacent pen, its dam nearby, a calm companion, or even visual alpaca contact until physical reunion is medically appropriate.

As soon as the cria is healthy enough, the goal should be increasing appropriate herd contact rather than increasing human dependence. Veterinary guidance consistently emphasizes socialization with other camelids for hand-raised crias.

For us, that means a few practical boundaries:

• Provide the medical care the cria needs, but return the cria to its alpaca companions as soon as it is safely able.
• Whenever possible, bottle-feed with the cria remaining in or beside the herd, rather than routinely bringing it into the house or making feeding an extended human-bonding session.
• Make sure a growing cria has alpaca companionship and opportunities for normal alpaca interaction and play; another young alpaca can be especially valuable.
• Don’t encourage wrestling, chest bumping, jumping against people, leaning into people, crowding, mouthing, or other behavior that would become unsafe in an adult.
• Use calm, consistent boundaries. Affection should never require allowing the animal to invade your space or treat you as a playmate.
• When medical isolation is unavoidable, think of it as temporary critical care - not a new lifestyle.

None of that means withholding kindness. It means being clear about what kind of relationship we’re trying to create.

Boundaries Are Part of Loving Them

This may be the part I understand differently now than when I first wrote Charlie’s story.

When you’re fighting to save a seven-pound cria, every instinct tells you to hold him, protect him, keep him close, and do absolutely everything for him. And for a while, that may genuinely be what keeps him alive.

But there eventually comes a point when our job changes. We have to allow the herd to teach things we cannot. We have to stop rewarding behaviors simply because they’re adorable. We have to recognize that the baby climbing into our lap today may become an adult alpaca who still believes climbing into our personal space is acceptable.

That isn’t fair to the animal. And it isn’t safe for the people who will care for him for the rest of his life.

Friendly Is Not the Same as Over-Familiar

I don’t want someone reading this to become afraid to interact with their crias.

We handle ours. We train them. We enjoy them.

And there are certainly alpacas with naturally curious, social personalities. A cria walking up to investigate you does not mean it has ABS.

What deserves attention is a pattern of increasingly human-focused behavior combined with a lack of normal boundaries - especially when the cria consistently chooses people over alpacas, pushes into human space, tries to engage people physically as play partners, or becomes frustrated when human interaction is unavailable. Those are the moments when being proactive matters.

An old article from Camelidynamics describes exactly why these behaviors are easy to miss: what looks like an adorable young alpaca leaning against someone can become a very different problem when the same animal reaches adult size.

What If the Alpaca Is Already an Adult?

This is also where I would be careful with labels.

Not every difficult adult alpaca has Aberrant Behavior Syndrome. Pain, illness, sexual behavior, inappropriate handling, fear, learned behavior, and other problems can also change how an animal behaves. A veterinarian should be part of evaluating any significant behavioral change, particularly if it is new or sudden.

But an adult camelid that deliberately charges, rams, bites, rears at, chases, or directs repeated dominance or sexual behavior toward humans can be extremely dangerous. That is no longer something to laugh off as personality.

Children and inexperienced handlers should not be placed around an animal displaying those behaviors, and attempting to physically “dominate” or wrestle the animal back is not a sensible solution. Severe cases warrant help from a camelid-knowledgeable veterinarian and experienced camelid handler or behavior professional. Prevention is far easier than trying to undo years of inappropriate social development.

What Charlie Taught Me

The original point of this article was to explain how to avoid creating a bottle-raised alpaca that eventually became dangerous. Years later, I would phrase the lesson a little differently.

Save the cria first. Then make sure the life you saved is still allowed to become an alpaca.

Sometimes livestock ownership requires us to intervene intensely. We warm them. Feed them. Medicate them. Sit up all night with them. Carry them around when they cannot stand on their own. There is nothing wrong with loving them through that.

But our emotional attachment cannot become more important than the animal’s long-term needs. Charlie needed us to save his life. He also needed us to eventually step aside enough for him to have one.

A healthy relationship with an alpaca doesn’t require the alpaca to see us as another member of the herd. In fact, the safest and kindest relationship is usually the opposite: an alpaca that trusts people, accepts handling, respects our space, and is completely comfortable being an alpaca.

That is ultimately what we should be working toward. Today, Charlie is a successful member of the herd. He has been gelded, and for sure has a few identifiable Charlie-ism quirks. That said though, realizing the need for Charlie to be an alpaca has allowed us to now be able to enjoy and interact with him for years to come vs. what could have turned down a long, difficult road.

We so appreciate everyone who has followed our little guy’s story. As always, Go Charlie, Go.