Nails are a vital part of the hamsters. In fact, they would fulfill various purposes. For example, they are crucial for defense, grabbing food, cleaning themselves, etc. not only that but also they play a major role in gathering nesting materials also. If you are a hamster owner, you would have seen the hamster’s nails have formed inwards or curled sideways.
Besides, if the hamsters climb on you, it means they are feeling you. They would usually run from hand to shoulder which would tickle you. However, when they make scratches on you and themselves, you should realize that it is the right time to do some nail care for the hamsters.
Unfortunately, hamsters cannot trim their nails well. It will be up to the hamster owner to trim the nails once in a while. Before proceeding any further, keep in mind that you should never use human nail clippers to trim hamster nails. If you happen to use human nail clippers, chances are that it could go wrong as Hamsters are way too active. So, let’s find out more details on this subject!
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How fast do hamster nails grow?
The nails’ growing speed would vary depending on the hamster’s breed. However, on a general scale, I would say it would take about 3-5 months. Ideally, you need to conduct a nail check once every three weeks. That will allow you to have a clear idea of the nail trimming of the hamsters.
How often should you cut your hamster’s nails?
Once every three weeks would be ideal to cut the hamster’s nails.
How do I know if my hamsters’ nails are too long?
You could simply decide this by simply looking at them. If you spot the hamster’s claws twisting right toward the paws, you need to trim the nails as swiftly as you can. I suggest you keep a planner so that you can keep a schedule for nail care and attend to it on time.
Do not ever wait until the blood comes out from the nail area or paws before you trim the pets. Further, if you spot the hamsters struggling to scratch or clean them you need to check the nails as soon as possible. Long nails would make it difficult for the hamsters to walk or run. So, if you spot the hamsters finding it difficult to walk or run it is more probably due to overgrown nails.
How to cut hamster nails?
Cutting hamsters’ nails is not simple as it sounds. In fact, it is somewhat of a challenging task to do. Hamsters are notorious animals. They won’t cooperate with trimming their nails even if you place them in one place. When you trim the hamster’s nails at home, you need to have some patience. In fact, You can’t just finish everything in just one day. First of all, the hamsters should feel comfy with the way you have held them. When they seem to be okay with you, place them in a position where both of you can stay comfortable.
Many hamster owners opt to hold the hamster’s back against the stomach or chest whilst holding one of his paws with their fingers. Alternatively, you could hold one of his paws when they are on all four. If you are uncertain whether you could do this all alone, you could get one of your friends’ assistance to do this task. Chances are that they may fidget and squirm when you trim their nails. Furthermore, they may make some protesting sounds.
None of the hamsters would prefer to be in a position like this and you need to expect these reactions from the hamsters when you do this task. However even if they seem to be comfy with the way you have held them, the sounds which come from nail clipping would arouse their curiosity. Therefore be ready for anything you may come across.
Always inspect the hamster’s nails and then proceed with trimming
First and foremost make sure that there is sufficient sunlight before trimming the nails. That being said, ensure that the hamster’s eyes are not exposed to bright sunlight as they are quite sensitive to that. Furthermore, keep in mind that the hamster’s nails are somewhat transparent. Those nails may have a white yellow tint whilst the edges would be somewhat light in color. However, you could see a pinkish-cloudy area around the starting point of the nail towards the fingers. Nails are very small and short. In fact, they would be as small as the size of a couple of grains of sand.
The pink cloudy part is a crucial part of the hamster’s nails. As such avoid cutting into it. It comprises so many blood vessels. So if you accidentally cut into those, it is more like you have cut into the right under the nails. As such When you do the trimming, you need to give a wide berth to the pink cloudy area of the hamsters. Further, when you trim the translucent part you need to leave the same length as you did with the pink part too.
One might find it difficult to do it, especially if your beloved hamsters are not used to it. So, it is better to not have any expectations to finish the whole thing within one day. When you manage to fulfill the task properly, consider giving them a treat so that they will feel good. Further, that will convince them that they are secure and you are not hurting them.
If you are unsure and not confident enough about doing this task, you could seek professional help. A pet doctor would assist you here as they would trim the hamster’s nails quite well. I suppose that would be the best thing to do particularly if you are unsure about handling this task. Honestly, it would be somewhat challenging to find the quick and to keep them still until you conduct this task.
So, it would be worth paying a visit to the pet doctor to get this task done. In fact, doctors have quite good experience with trimming nails and they will be able to identify the quick quite well too. Besides If they ever come across any bleeding situation here, they will know how to react to it and disinfect everything.
Hamster nail clippers
There are hamster nail clippers that you could easily purchase online to do this task. However, chances are that they may still end up having injuries due to these. For example, if they start to fidget chances are that you may end up cutting them too deep.
How to trim hamster nails naturally
Hamsters trim their nails naturally. So, if you do the following stuff you could allow them to trim their nails naturally.
01) Consider giving them plenty of substrates. Once you provide plenty of substrates, it would assist the hamsters in burrowing. In addition to that, it would help them to keep the claws short as well.
02) Cage bars are one more thing that you can consider placing in the cages. In fact it would act as a natural nail file.
03) Using Textured objects could be also handy in letting the hamsters trim their nails naturally.
Hamster nail trimming cost
Usually, a nail trimming cost would be around $ 20 for one trimming appointment. Keep in mind that not all hamsters would want to trim their nails manually. They can manage the length of their nails by simply chewing and gnawing. Furthermore, they can do that by simply scratching on their toys and all the other enrichment items they have in the cage too.
That being said, you must trim the ill or elderly hamsters’ nails on time as it is very unlikely that they can do it on their own. As aforesaid, if you spot the nails starting to curl down their paws, you need to start trimming the nails.
What happens if I don’t cut my hamster’s nails?
You need to trim hamster nails for multiple reasons. You might wonder whether it is really necessary to trim the hamsters’ nails as you may think they don’t do that when they are in the wild. However, it is okay for the wild hamsters to have overgrown nails since they will have so many hard surfaces to wear them which would be somewhat different with the hamsters when you breed at home.
You need to cut the hamster’s nails as the nails will curve on themselves and become a pain to the hamsters. Further chances are that they may sometimes grow into the hamster’s paw and curve back towards them too. If the hamsters happen to go through this condition it would result in major pain for them. Further, it could pave the way for an infection in the feet too.
Additionally, once the hamsters have overgrown nails they would struggle to conduct the grooming activity like they used to do before. When he does grooming they would grab on their fur and hold it in place and then clean. So when they have long nails it will start to cause pain in them. Besides they would find it difficult to walk as they would not be able to keep proper steps.
Apart from that, overgrown nails would tend to fall off if you don’t attend to them properly. How unpleasant would it be! further, the nails would not fall just like that. Instead, they would tend to hang in there for a couple of days until the new nails grow back. This would be a painful experience for the hamsters. So, if you make sure that you trim the nails periodically it would assist you to avoid all these things from occurring.
Conclusion
To wind up, all hamsters don’t require trimming often. There could be some hamsters who can take care of their nails quite well. However, it is somewhat rare to spot them doing that. Hence the simplest thing you could do is to keep observing the hamsters closely. I don’t recommend you trim the hamster’s nails on your own if you are completely new to this. Instead, you need to take them to a doctor. Pet doctors would be able to conduct the process much more effectively. So, I trust this article cleared all the doubts you had about hamsters’ nail trimming and that you are much more confident when you do this next time.
Hello, my name is James and I’ve been caring for tiny pets for over 14 years with a passion. I enjoy passing on my expertise to other individuals in order for them to have the same amount of enjoyment as I do.
