Alpacas My Pet and Me

-Hello! Welcome to My Pet And Me. I'm Ferne.

-I'm Rory.

We've been getting the barn ready for the animals.

We like to make sure they have the right food and water.

And a comfy place to sleep as well.

Lots of different animals make excellent pets,

and we love coming to meet you and yours.

We certainly do, and I'm off to meet some new friends now.

-You can come with me if you like! See you later!

-See you!

-Come on!

# My pet My pet and me

# My pet My pet and me

# Down every street

# Are pets to meet

# Some big, some small, some scary, some furry

# Some keep very still, some are always in a hurry

# Some have four paws

# Some have sharp claws

# Some quack, some bark, some purr, some moo

# Some grunt, some squawk, some cock-a-doodle-doo!

# My pet My pet and me

# My pet My pet and me

# My pet My pet and me

# Have you met my pet and me? #

Today we're in St Albans to meet Rosie, Jessica, and their alpacas.

Let's go and find them.

DUCKS QUACK

-Hi!

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Ferne.

-You must be Jessica and Rosie.

-Yes.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you must be Granny, hello!

-Hello!

-Are you girls twins?

-Yes.

-And how I going to tell you apart?

-I'm Rosie, and I'm taller.

-I'm Jessica, and I'm shorter.

-OK, I will definitely remember that.

Now, you invited me here to see some alpacas, but that isn't an alpaca.

Who's this?

-Amos is our donkey.

-Oh, he's beautiful, hello, Amos!

-So where are your alpacas?

-They're over there.

-Can we go see them?

-Yes.

'Scuse me, Amos!

Look, they're coming over to say hello.

-These are our alpacas.

-What are their names?

Chico and Bella.

Which one's which - how do I tell them apart?

Bella's the brown one and Chico's the white one.

-Chico's the white one? BOTH:

-Yes.

-Is he a boy? BOTH:

-Yes.

And Bella's a girl.

They're beautiful, aren't they? And they're having a good look around.

-Which one's more friendly?

-Chico.

-Yeah? Is he the curious one?

-Yeah.

What is your favourite thing about having alpacas as pets?

-BOTH:

-Their fluffy tails.

-And their fluffy coats.

I really like their fluffy faces.

What do you girls like to do with Bella and Chico?

-We watch them walk around the field.

-Yeah.

They like rolling around on the grass.

-Do they get muddy? BOTH:

-Yes.

-Do they enjoy mud and dust baths? BOTH:

-Yes.

Always eating, too!

There are more and more alpacas here, but do you know where they came from?

-South America.

-That's right. It's quite far away, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Do you know where they live in those countries?

-On high mountains.

Yeah, they live really high up in the mountains,

and that's why they have nice woolly coats to keep them good and cosy.

-But your alpacas have just been shaved, haven't they?

-Yeah.

Why did you shave them?

Otherwise they would get too hot in the summer.

-That's quite important, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

So they don't get too warm.

And what happens with their wool after you shave them?

You can make them into hats, scarves and other things that are warm.

-Can you make them into jumpers?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Nice, warm, cosy things!

-Yeah.

Hello, you! Look at their funny toes!

They're good for climbing on mountains, aren't they?

What ages are Chico and Bella?

-BOTH:

-Chico is three, and Bella is four.

-So they're still very young, aren't they?

-Yes.

Alpacas can live for 15 to 20 years, which is pretty long!

-We've got two other alpacas.

-Oh, great, so you've got a small herd!

It's nice that you've got a group of them -

they are very sociable animals,

so they prefer to live in groups or herds.

Rory, can you tell us some more fleecy facts about our friends here?

Of course, Ferne!

One - a male alpaca is called a macho.

A female is called an hembra, and a baby alpaca is called a cria.

Two - alpacas come in all sorts of colours,

like brown, white and black.

Three - alpacas are herbivores,

which means they like to eat plants, grass and hay.

Four - when an alpaca sits down, it's called cushing.

Five - alpacas are very nosy,

and love having a good look at anything that is new to them.

Like all pets, alpacas need lots of careful looking after,

so what do you girls have to do to look after the alpacas?

We clean out their poo in the field.

-That sounds really fun(!) Shall we give it a go?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

You have to use the pooper scooper and collect it all.

-That sounds good. Shall we go?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

See you later!

Here's a nice pile!

It rolls right out, doesn't it?

Whoa, nice fat raisins!

There's a lot in that one, isn't there?

What about that big pile there?

I think that's enough, yeah? Nice full bucket.

It's hard not to stand on it, isn't it?

Do you girls have to do this often?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-Cos otherwise it would get full of poo.

And they spend most of their time out in this field.

-They do, don't they?

-Yeah.

Alpacas are used to the cold, and spend most of their time outside,

but it's important that they're able to access a shelter,

just in case they need it.

Good job, girls!

We've got a whole barrow full of poo here.

-Just here?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

What now?

Now let's give them some food and water.

That sounds good. Come on!

-Just in here? BOTH:

-Yeah.

Right, what next?

-Let's go and feed them.

-Yeah! Come on.

What do alpacas eat?

-They eat hay and grass.

-These pellets?

-Yeah.

That looks good!

-Are the pellets kind of a nice treat for them?

-Yeah.

-Cos they're full of vitamins, aren't they?

-Yeah.

All right, come on, grub's up!

-See if they eat it?

-Yeah.

What do you think they prefer, which is their favourite?

-Grass, hay or pellets?

-Pellets.

-Pellets.

-Bella's eating her food now.

-Yeah, she must be hungry.

So is Chico.

His jaws are moving from side to side.

Yeah, it helps him grind down the grass, doesn't it, to make it soft?

Yeah.

Look, you can see his bottom teeth sticking out.

-And he doesn't have teeth on the top, does he?

-No.

-What does his jaw do? It goes sideways, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

My Pet and Me!

Grandad has put Chico in a harness so we can give him a bit of a cuddle.

-What does he feel like?

-Soft.

Really soft, and cuddly. He's lovely.

If your alpacas could go anywhere or do anything, what would they do?

-BOTH:

-If our pets could do anything...

They would teach baby alpacas to swim.

And they would use their legs to kick in the water.

And they would make lots of splashes.

And make lots of waves.

And when they were done they would get out of the pool...

..and they would shake from side to side.

And then they would use a hairdryer to dry themselves.

And they would get big and fluffy.

Alpacas are very gentle and good-natured animals,

but they don't tend to be the cuddliest of pets,

so why don't we make alpacas that we can cuddle?

-How do you feel about making some alpaca sock puppets? BOTH:

-Yeah.

-Shall we get started? Who wants to choose a sock?

-This one.

-OK.

And I'll get this one. I thought woolly socks would be good.

There's the face, and this can be like their long neck

and their fluffy body.

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Right.

So what do we have to do first?

What do alpacas have here - lots of it?

-BOTH:

-Hair.

-Shall we stick some hair on?

-Yeah.

-OK.

OK, so we have their fuzzy heads.

And what else do they have?

-BOTH:

-Ears.

-Really big ones, too!

So this bit is a little bit tricky, so I can help you out.

These look like pretty good alpaca ears, cos they're very long.

-So what's next, what else should we do? BOTH:

-The eyes.

Yeah, let's choose some eyes.

I love those eyes! And those ears are pretty good, too.

-What else do we need other than eyes?

-Nose.

-Noses.

A nice, squishy nose.

-I know what I'm going to name my sock puppet.

-What?

-Rory.

-So I think it needs some glasses. Do you think that will work? BOTH:

-Yeah.

-Have you ever seen an alpaca with glasses before?

-No.

-No, me neither!

-Why don't we put some more wool down their backs?

-Yeah.

Yours is looking great, Rosie, it's even got a bit of a tail!

What do you think the alpacas will say when they see our puppets?

I think that they'll say that there are loads of us.

-And their herd's gotten bigger!

-Yeah.

-Are we all finished? BOTH:

-Yeah.

-And what are the names?

-Emily.

-Rachel.

Nice to meet you, Emily.

Nice to meet you, Rachel.

-I'm Rory. Shall we go and show the alpacas? BOTH:

-Yeah.

-Come on!

Alpacas!

Look! Come on, fella. Hey!

Hi!

What do you think the alpacas think of our puppets?

-I think they're curious about them.

-And they've got three new friends.

That's nice - their herd has got a bit bigger with their three friends.

I had such a wonderful time meeting you and your alpacas.

-They're so cute!

-You're welcome.

-Thank you for coming.

My Pet and Me!

-Hi, Rory! Hi, Roxy!

-Hi, Ferne, how was your day?

Oh, it was great, I had a brilliant time with my friends!

That sounds excellent.

Pets are great, but you shouldn't touch an animal

unless the owner says it's OK first.

Two pets you definitely CAN play with are ours.

Go to the CBeebies website and play the My Pet and Me game.

What a fantastic time we've had. We just love meeting you and your pets.

# Today we met

# A lovely pet

# We see how much you care for them

# Thank you so much for sharing them

# Time for us to

# Just remind you

# After you've played with your pet

# Wash your hands, don't forget!

# It doesn't matter what pets you've got

# You might have one, you might not

# It's still fun finding out what having a pet is all about

# My pet My pet and me

# My pet My pet and me

# My pet My pet and me

# Come back and see my pet and me. #

THEY CHEER