please help! hamster nailbed is black?

[atsui]

Hi all, I have only had my hammy for about a week but i noticed one of his paws has a finger that has a black nailbed. the nails are a bit long, but I havent had time (nor the guts) to trim them myself or get him a brick to file them down. He shows no signs of limping, and because of how fidgety he is (probably because hes only been with me for a week) I cant really get a good look at his finger. He runs on his wheel just fine, and has no problems with walking, but i am still pretty worried. I have never trimmed his nails before, so i have no idea what it could be. Please help! im a new hamster owner and im really scared of messing up ):

[cypher]

It sounds as though he's caught his nail on something & pulled it maybe, it will probably get better on it's own but if it doesn't begin to improve or shows signs of getting worse then you would need to take him to your vet.
If you're not confident about trimming his nails yourself then you can get that done at the vets too.

[atsui]

thanks for your reply! the poor baby has been really stressed out from me handling him, mostly because I want to get a closer look at that finger. I hear that their nails can be filed naturally by using a big rock or a brick and placing it under a commonly walked area like a water bottle? I don't want to give him any more stress so a non-intrusive method like this would be ideal.

[cypher]

Do you know how old your ham is? If he's young it would be unusual for his nails to be too long, you can use rough (but not sharp) surfaces like stones (not smooth stones which do nothing!) tiles turned upside down or granite slabs (similar to chinchilla stones) to help keep them trim but none of these will help if they are already too long.
I would just give him some time to settle for now than see what you need to do once he's a bit more relaxed.

[atsui]

I am not even sure what constitutes as long nails, I only had google images to go off of. All i know is theyre a bit scratchy when he crawls up on my arm, and that theyre about 2-3mm long? I have placed a rough stone in his cage, and ill probably get him to a vet if that black spot doesnt look better.

[dreamtree1234]

I am sorry to hear about your ham's nail bed turning black. Cypher gave excellent advice, and I totally agree with all she said. I hope that he is better soon.

[atsui]

thanks for the well wishes everyone. Humphreys finger has healed wonderfully!

[cypher]

Glad to hear that