Hamster’s nails not shortening down

[Oobee35]

So, lately I’v been noticing my hamster’s nails becaoming extremely long. From the beginning I’ve had sanitized rocks in her cage for her to scratch her nails on, and I also have a scratchy toy as well, but it’s not been working for her. Each day I check in with her to see if anything has changed and it seems like they keep getting longer and longer. I really don’t want to trim her nails because I’m worried i’ll mess it up or get the technique wrong. Does anyone have any tips for something to help? Thanks!

[Thin Lizzy]

You could make an appointment at the vet, who'll be able to trim them.

[mangoandmimi]

Yes you’ll need to go to the vet if you can’t do it yourself. The rocks etc are only any good for keeping nails down once they’re an acceptable length, and often its still not enough. So no amount of items in the cage now will get them back down, they’ll need a trim.

[Pebbles82]

I think it's really good to have a vet do them and show you how to do them so you can do it yourself next time (although it's not easy!). The main issue is not cutting the "quick" which can be very painful for them and also cause a lot of bleeding. When I had it done at the vet, the vet had me hold my hamster while she did the clipping and believe me he pushed so far back I could hardly hold him! When they get older and less active the nails tend to start getting a bit long I noticed.

What I do have though is a piece of rough granite under the water bottle so every time they go for a drink their nails are being roughened. I got it from Rodipet and it's only about £4 but unfortunately the postage makes it about £12. Another option is to use a terracotta plant pot base/saucer under the water bottle. Both these things are heavy though so I have them on a shelf with a small mouse sized water bottle above them.

That won't shorten them enough if they've got long so you'll still need them clipping but it will help keep them short from now on,

[Sasha04]

I agree with everyone. Taking him to the vet is best. They can teach you how to do it so you can do it at home if you are comfortable with it.