Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, there are some Canada Geese that live near my house. Every year something goes wrong with the geese. They either purposely roll eggs out of there nests which i then stealthily place back in or they tend to "give up hope" on their babies quickly. Every year they get chased by some stupid kids and sometimes a baby or two falls into the crick in my backyard and gets stuck. There is about a 3 foot strait drop so it cant get back up. The adult geese just squawk for 5 minutes then are on their merry way. When i try to give the babies back to the mother she acts as if she doesnt know them and sometimes attacks them. It cant be the scent of them because i have been told many times by vets and such that the myth about touching a baby bird and the mother not caring for it is not true. I learned my lesson the hard way when i released a small baby goose back to its parents and they viciously attacked it and killed it i tried to stop it but when i got to the baby he was in bad shape and soon died. I was angered and now after it happening again i refuse to even attempt to return them to the mother. What should i do for one if i come across it? What should i do with it? What to feed, where to keep, etc. Sometimes i cant arrange for the long trip to the AARC (Animal Rescue center place) for days. What should i do with one in the event that it gets stranded from its mother? Thanks so much!

Well, you could care for it like you would a duckling..

Line a cardboard box with newspaper and have a lamp power plug handy. What I did was to hand the lamp (mine had a bendable neck) over the edge, shining into the box. I don't know about food.. I'm not sure if ducklings can eat what grown oens eat, but give it a dish of water and make sure the thign you use to put water in hasn't been the lid of a chemical-containing box or with sharp edges it could cut itself on.

Hope this helps a little....

Thanks. I know that the babies eat grass shoots so could i take it out in the yard and supervise it eat or do you think it would try to run off. Maybe i could put it under the lid to and old wire cage i had. Also what about the eggs. It seems everyday im placing what appears to be the same egg back in the nest and getting hit and bit while doing it. Is there anyway for me to incubate it? I know it may be a dud but in the past the ones i have rolled back into the nest have hatched fine. Thanks again for the help!