Cut my dwarf hamster's nails.. [[10 POINTS]]?

Question

i have a dwarf hamster, well two infact. but one of them has got quite long nails. i dont know if its hurting her or not.

shall i cut them?

if so then what with?

how short?

please go through the steps of how to do it as it might be tricky because its hard to keep her still.

thankyouu :)

Answer 1

It's hard to cut a hamster's nails as they are so small and it's difficult to see where you're cutting as they are constantly moving.

Here's a trick I learned from somewhere,

Do you have a wheel in your cage? If not, you should have one. Line it with sandpaper, and when she runs in it, it files her nails down. When they are a reasonable length, you can take the sandpaper out again.

Answer 2

If the claws are longer than average to you, then its ok, you can cut them. The best way to do it is either take them to a petco or vet to get them cut, but if you really want to, you can do it yourself. Just buy a small animal nail clipper and clip only up to the pink part of the nail. Its very important that you stay away from the pink area because your hamster will get hurt if you cut there, so be very careful and just dont go near the pink part.

This is a picture of what Im calling the "pink part" Its of a ferrets nails, but its the same concept.

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv...

Answer 3

maybe put something in her cage that could wear them down naturally? if not take her to a vet because dwarf hammies are kinda jumpy and if she moves you could take her whole little "hammy finger" off let alone it would be painful if you hit the quick (the vein in the nail, looks like a red line) and if you do hit the quick she will end up bleeding. but if you must do it youre self, have someone hold her entire body you take her paw and clip closesly to the quick (but noy dangerously close) and do this for each nail dwarf hammies should have clear nails so finding the quick should be easy if she does have black nails then dont do it at all.

Answer 4

It would be best if a vet could show you how to do it first then you can do it at home, if you are comfortable with it. If you aren't comfortable, just bring the hamster to the vet regularly to get his nails clipped.