Llama Gestation Period: How Long Is a Llama Pregnant?

How long is a llama pregnant?

A llama carries her cria for an average of 350 days, or about 11 months and 2 weeks. Counting from the breeding date, birthing is normal anywhere from day 330 to day 365.

Key checkpoints across the 350-day llama gestation, measured in days from breeding:

Estimate your llama's birthing date

Enter the breeding date for an estimated birthing date at 350 days.

Open the full Llama gestation calculator

Llama gestation stages, month by month

Signs a llama is pregnant

• She spits at and refuses the male from around two weeks after mating
• Ultrasound or a blood test confirms pregnancy from about day 45
• The left flank fills out and cria movement becomes visible in the last two months
• Udder development in the final month to six weeks

Signs of approaching birthing

• Frequent trips to the dung pile, humming and mild separation from the herd on the day
• Rolling, tail raising and visible straining in the final half hour, nearly always in daylight
• Contact your vet if labour stalls, if the animal strains without progress, or if there is abnormal discharge before birthing begins.

What affects llama gestation length

• Llamas carry slightly longer than alpacas — about 350 days against 345 — and the normal range of 330 to 365 days is wide enough that a fortnight either side of the calculated date is unremarkable.
• Like alpacas, llamas are induced ovulators with no oestrous cycle, so mating triggers ovulation and the breeding date is usually known to the day.
• Nearly all pregnancies sit in the left uterine horn, and twins are so rare that a twin pregnancy is a veterinary problem rather than a bonus.
• Llamas also give birth in daylight, typically morning to early afternoon, and a normal delivery is quick — often under 30 minutes of active straining.
• Crias are born without the ability to absorb antibodies for long: colostrum in the first six hours decides whether the cria has working immunity.

Llama gestation chart

Every fifth breeding date across the year with the matching birthing date, calculated at 350 days. Find the row closest to the date the llama was served; because normal gestation spans 330 to 365 days, plan for a window of a few days either side. Filter by month, or print the chart for the barn wall or breeding record: navigation, buttons and adverts are hidden on paper.

Sources for llama gestation figures

Figures on this page are drawn from camelid veterinary reference works, llama association breeding records and published camelid reproduction studies, and checked against the references below. Averages describe healthy animals under normal management; individual animals vary, and nothing here replaces advice from your vet.

• International Llama Registry
• Merck Veterinary Manual — reproduction and pregnancy chapters by species
• Penn State Extension — livestock reproduction and breeding management fact sheets
• Oklahoma State University, Breeds of Livestock