Hello cee,
i decided for the sand paper at first too, but i got so scared he would hurt his feet that i removed it even before he tried it. It seemed to me it could cause too much damage!
I did the terracotta, i have a really small terracotta bowl and its now laid in a corner. I put sometimes a treat in there and i heard him trying to dig trough the terracotta, so i think it will be a good prevention in the future
But i will have to see the vet. Luckily i found a nice dwarf breeder in my town who has a lot experience with one vet clinic, where she said they know how to do this stuff really well. So ill call them and go there as soon as my exams are over.
I think that it will be a lot of stress for the poor hammie, but hey better clipped nails and bad mood for a few days then me holding him all stressed out and cutting of his fingers. I think he will survive it.
I know a lot of people have bad experience with the vets and that they manage to do the nails on their own, but im just not that sure of myself. So im all happy i found a vet
. And it has one more plus... ill see the vet for the first time for such a small and usuall thing, so if something goes wrong at least ill know where im taking the hamster.
Good luck, its really scary to see those small cute furry feet
!!!