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sushi_78 · 05-03-2022, 04:28 PM

I noticed last night that Kebab's (2 years, 2 months old) nails were shockingly long! I tried to cut them then but didn't have any success, and I was exhausted so gave up and went to bed. Tonight I tried again. I did have to wake him up, but they were starting to curl so I didn't want to leave it too much longer, and it was midnight so not an unreasonable time for a hamster to be awake anyway. I managed to get a couple done while he was still dopey from sleep. It's not usually good to wake a hamster up of course but if their nails are so long that the next option would be a trip to vet to have them done under sedation, it's worth a try.

After that I put him on the top of his cage, smeared some malt paste (baby food or similar would also work) on the bars and managed to cut a couple through the bars (reaching in throughout the front door of the cage) while he was licking the paste up. I think I'll have to do this every night until they're all trimmed.

His back nails are much worse than his front nails. I've heard some hamsters bite their nails to keep them short so I wonder if another reason for them growing long in old age is because the hamster can't reach the back ones as easily due to pain, weakness or stiffness?

05-03-2022, 04:28 PM
sushi_78 Hamster Overlord Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: London Posts: 763	Re: Senior hamsters I noticed last night that Kebab's (2 years, 2 months old) nails were shockingly long! I tried to cut them then but didn't have any success, and I was exhausted so gave up and went to bed. Tonight I tried again. I did have to wake him up, but they were starting to curl so I didn't want to leave it too much longer, and it was midnight so not an unreasonable time for a hamster to be awake anyway. I managed to get a couple done while he was still dopey from sleep. It's not usually good to wake a hamster up of course but if their nails are so long that the next option would be a trip to vet to have them done under sedation, it's worth a try. After that I put him on the top of his cage, smeared some malt paste (baby food or similar would also work) on the bars and managed to cut a couple through the bars (reaching in throughout the front door of the cage) while he was licking the paste up. I think I'll have to do this every night until they're all trimmed. His back nails are much worse than his front nails. I've heard some hamsters bite their nails to keep them short so I wonder if another reason for them growing long in old age is because the hamster can't reach the back ones as easily due to pain, weakness or stiffness? Last edited by sushi_78; 05-03-2022 at 04:34 PM.