What do I do if my hamster's toe nails are too long?
Unfortunately our artificial environments often are too smooth to keep a hamsters nails properly trimmed. Try to introduce a climbing rock, or a rough wheel, like the one seen below.
If a hamsters toe nails have grown out of control they will need to be trimmed. A vet should really do the trimming, as you must be very careful not to clip in too far and injure the growing part of the nail.
Also hamsters quite understandably don't like having someone hold their tiny legs while their toe nails are clipped
I have devised what I call a "rough wheel" for my hamsters which helps to keep their nails in check. Basically it is a standard running wheel with medium grit wet-dry sand paper glued in place with rubber cement. Make sure the glue is completely dry, as the fumes can be quite noxious when wet. This wheel has kept my hamsters toes in perfect trim since it was installed.
Another type of wheel that works great is the "bar" type wheel. While these wheels can be a pain to an unlucky hamster who's feet slip through the bars, if you wrap a piece of sandpaper around it with the rough side facing in and tape it on it'll keep their nails in good trim and keep their feet from slipping through.
If you have a dwarf hamster and a cage with tubes you can simply roll up a piece of Coarse grit sandpaper and put it in a tube going up. It will help them climb in the bigger tubes, and keep their nails trimmed down.
WARNING: The sandpaper wheel should be used with close supervision to insure it doesn't hurt your hamsters feet.
