My new best friend! Video added UPDATED PICS!

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Nope if you get two they will not imprint on you. They will bond to you and imprint on their siblings. they will still be a good pet they just won't be imprinted.

I don't believe that, where are you getting that info.? Or what all entails imprinting? Mine follow me around like I'm mamma, but they also have each other... So how can you really tell?? j

 

[PrinceSandwich]

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Nope if you get two they will not imprint on you. They will bond to you and imprint on their siblings. they will still be a good pet they just won't be imprinted.

I don't believe that, where are you getting that info.? Or what all entails imprinting? Mine follow me around like I'm mamma, but they also have each other... So how can you really tell?? j​

This is where I'm getting most of my info.

http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id6.html

 

[PrinceSandwich]

Heres some updated pictures of my African Gosling! I named him Doobi

Hes 5 weeks old today

 

[Kim65]

Aww Doobi is very handsome

I loved your YouTube video of him, and thought your Fart video was an unsung masterpiece.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

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Thanks! oh that fart video......glad you liked it lol

 

[b.hromada]

What a cutie! I've got one too, and we just love her/him to death! She swims in the pool with my hubby!

enjoy him/her!!

 

[PrinceSandwich]

b.hromada :

What a cutie! I've got one too, and we just love her/him to death! She swims in the pool with my hubby!

enjoy him/her!!

They really do make GREAT pets!​

 

[adrian]

Wanted to make a comment about geese as companion animals as I've raised quite a few myself...

What goosedragon said wasn't altogether incorrect, and believe me, I am a huge advocate for pet geese. It seems the goose world is divided into two groups: those that think geese can be pets, and those that don't, and those that don't think so really don't think so, and for some reason think everyone who keeps them as pets are wrong-doers in some way. I know this because, as a past pet goose owner, I was insulted and harassed for keeping imprinted goslings. But that is beside the point. The thing about pet geese is that they can be lovely, wonderful creatures; ones that quickly become a part of the family, will sleep on your bed and sit in your lap to be petted, will accompany you in the shower, snatch food from your plate, read (eat) books with you... But they must also be the right kind of geese. Let me stress that.

I used to think any goose, if raised with love and care, would be a good pet. That you simply couldn't be prejudice against certain breeds. That's why I got an embden goose, who I mistakenly thought was female but ended up male. He was, at first, very friendly with everyone, but that quickly changed. He became quite vicious, attacking all people he saw, and he would attempt to mate with me as well, which to say the least, was not a pleasant experience. I had bruises all over my arms. There were good times with him, but those quickly became irrelevant in the face of my massive mistake, because he was mean, nasty, and also incredibly messy and difficult to manage. I could not diaper him as Nancy and Alan Townsend diapered theirs, and I tried. So I relocated him to a farm.

I thought that was it. That all of those goose owners must have been lying to me about how good they were as pets, because my experience had been very bad. But the next year I raised some pilgrims and africans - pilgrims for me because I'd done my research, and africans because my friend wanted to try raising a goose as well, and for some reason was hooked on africans.

Well, hatch day came and they were lovely. Pilgrims are sexually dimorphic even at birth, so I quickly found a small female and my friend got, in contrast, a large african baby. They grew up, were absolutely lovely, gave us moments of pure joy, accompanied us to the beach, napped in the sun with us; the whole experience. Things didn't change for me. My girl was an extremely friendly, quiet, good-natured goose. She got along with everybody, didn't have a mean bone in her body, and even traveled with us and stayed in hotels with us. She was extremely manageable, wore a diaper, didn't smell very bad at all, especially on a good diet... But the african began to change. He got wild, he started to chase people and bite. He got so bad that he attacked a mail man and was reported as being an aggressive animal and had to be moved to a farm. He was still nowhere as bad as my embden, but not pet material. My pilgrim goose died of congenital heart failure at 6 months old, but she was truly the love of my life, as they always are. Brought me so much happiness and was the best pet I've ever had. I still feel sadness at her loss.

The moral of this story is that not all geese are pet geese, nor should all of them be forced to be pet geese. Male geese almost always are a problem, even when they're not companion animals. Some breeds are better than others, but a spoiled male goose is almost always going to start attacking people. I've heard a motto: spoil the girls, but not the boys. Friendlier ganders are always ganders raised with other geese; friendlier girls are always imprinted and spoiled like heck.

That is why sexually dimorphic geese are the way to go, or at least white geese that can be sexed pretty reliably at birth. (I didn't know about auto-sexing white breeds when I got my embden). What I say, is always go for the darkest, smallest gosling. The breeds I recommend, and the only breeds I truly can recommend, are sebastopols, romans, and pilgrims, and the rarer ones: cotton patch, shetlands, old english geese... These are all geese that can be sexed at birth pretty reliably, and have calm dispositions and make lovely pets. You've got to be careful and you even have to be a bit of a sexist with geese, because the boys are almost always a no-no.

Basically, I hope your little african is a girl, because otherwise you are going to have problems with him!

Keep a close eye on his behavior for any signs: he might start charging, chasing, hissing or biting.
It will start with strangers and then it will continue into family members, as well.

S/he is adorable, though! Good luck.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

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Thanks for the info! You definitely know what your talking about! I hope mine is a girl too

He isn't nerly has friendly has he used to be.
Now that hes older hes been put outside for the day, and brought in at night. I haven't been spending as much time with him bacause I'm getting pretty busy with other things, though I'm putting an effort in to spending lots of time with him. Hes not getting mean, he just dosen't seem to like me as much

If I try to pick him up he runs away like I'm trying to kill him! I don't know if hes just getting older, or if he just doesn't like me anymore.

 

[adrian]

From my experience, the african that I co-raised last year also began to run away from people when we went to go pick him up. I think it's definitely more of a male trait to do this; my embden did it as well, but my girl, Grim, didn't really. In her cheeky stage, she'd sometimes whine if I picked her up, but she was always quite snuggly and sweet.

In my experience, only females really like to be petted; they're far more handleable... But my friend managed to teach her african to lie on his back like a baby. He liked to do that, but he also began to run away when we went to pick him up as he got older.

Mind you, our geese were also house pets so there might be a difference in the time spent with him and how bonded he is to you based on that...