[Alpacasite] Re: Question on Temperature Tolerance - Crias

> What is everyone's opinion on what is a reasonable temperature for a
> week-old cria to be exposed to? Tonight it's supposed to reach 31
F,
> very dry, some breeze but nothing major to affect the wind chill.
We
> have been putting mom and baby up in the barn at night the first few
> nights but this is the coldest it has gotten in a week.
>
> If you guys think I should I'll go chase/put them in for the night,
> and subject myself to Medusa (not the Dam's real name) who gets
> awfully perturbed when I mess with the cria :)

With good bedding, dry barn, and out of the wind, I would go ahead and
barn them, especially if you have been doing that in warmer evenings.
I wouldn't necessarily coat the baby at this temp if out of the wind,
dew, and with warm bedding.
Dr. Anderson reposted a hyper / hypo thermia thing recently and one
the 'cues' he discussed about hyperthermia in cria and adults was
their posture when kushed. He indicated that an animal working hard to
preserve body heat, will stretch its neck out fully on the ground, and
rather than kushing with body slightly raised off the ground will look
like they are 'pressing' their entire body against the ground to
assist in minimizing heat loss. Shivering of course is a whole
different panic time, and a healthy cria not exposed to any dampness
or wind in good straw bedding should be fine in just barely below
freezing. Wind and rain are the enemies more so than just plain cool
temps.

Gary [currently pulling posts directly off yahoo with email down]
Olympia WA

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