Hamster nails are constantly growing and therefore need to be trimmed and shortened occasionally.
If their nails are overgrown, then your hamster will have problems when they groom, and injuries to them or other hamsters may occur when they come into contact.
That’s why you should use nail-trimming toys for hamsters, which through physical contact with your pet will help reduce their nails.
What are the best toys for trimming my hamster’s nails?
The best toys for trimming hamsters’ nails are exercise wheels made of wood, sand bath, bendy bridges, tree branches, and lava rocks.
Nail trimming toys slowly but surely trim your hamster’s nails while your pet goes about its daily routine in the cage.
The toys help the hamster’s nails to always be in normal size, although some owners cut the hamster’s nails using special scissors for that purpose.
What are the best toys for trimming my hamster’s nails?
There are several toys that help reduce the nails of hamsters. Therefore, we will recommend several types of toys that will successfully reduce your pet’s nails.
You will only have to be careful where to place them in the cage so that the hamster can use them smoothly and they can complete the function for which they are intended.
Terracotta tile
Terracotta tile helps reduce hamster nails when your pet steps on it.
It is enough to put a piece of terracotta tile on the floor of the hamster’s cage and it will successfully help to reduce the nails, and at the same time, it will be a new fun element in addition to other objects in the cage.
Terracotta tile is a clay tile that is made from baked clay and has a slightly rough and porous surface.
A sand bath helps to trim the nails of hamsters
A sand bath is great for trimming hamster nails. Besides helping to trim their nails, it is also great for cleaning and maintaining your pet’s hygiene.
Hamsters love to use the sand bath because it also provides them with fun to play in.
This is why hamsters will have fun and trim their long nails at the same time, so add a sand bath to their cage occasionally so they can use it.
Bendy bridges for trimming hamster nails
Bendy bridges are toys made of wood that provide excellent results for reducing the nails of hamsters.
Many hamster owners say that with the help of this toy their pets reduce their nails and they are very satisfied with using it.
This toy is placed inside the hamster’s cage near the tunnels, and the exercise wheel, and great effects are achieved.
Hamsters not only reduce their nails, they also chew these toys and at the same time it offers great fun and increases their activities in the cage.
Use sandpaper to cut the nails of the hamsters
Sandpaper can be used to reduce the size of the hamster’s nails, but care must be taken.
Care must be taken because the rough surface can cause injuries to the hamsters’ paws, so it must not be left in the cage all the time.
Hamsters sometimes know how to cut off pieces of sandpaper and start chewing them, so you have to be very careful and not leave them in the cage all the time.
Emery board
You can put an emery board in the hamster’s cage so that they can trim their nails as they step on it.
Emery board is a nail file made with a strip of cardboard and a piece of emery or silicon carbide placed on top of the cardboard.
Emery board is mostly used to shape nails in humans, but you can also use it to trim nails in hamsters.
However, the emery board should not be left in the hamster’s cage at all times as it can cause injury from hamsters biting and chewing on this item.
Tree branches help to reduce the nails of hamsters
Tree branches are great for naturally reducing hamster nails. You can buy wooden pear or apple branches or use them yourself if you have them in your garden.
Hamsters love to play and chew on these branches, which naturally helps reduce their overgrown nails.
in addition to reducing the nails, the hamsters will also have fun playing with them, so they are great and you should often use them in the hamster cage.
An exercise wheel made of wood
One of the best toys for reducing the nails of hamsters is the wooden wheel, and here’s why.
Hamsters enjoy running a few miles on their exercise wheels every night, while also imperceptibly reducing their nails.
It is even better that the wheels themselves are made of untreated wood, that is, they do not have any other additives and chemicals that may negatively affect their health.
The only thing we must emphasize is that the size of wooden exercise wheels is usually larger and may not be suitable for use by smaller hamsters such as dwarf hamsters.
In any case, wooden wheels are a reliable way to trim the nails of hamsters, since they use them daily for exercise.
Garden center
Garden centers are an effective way to reduce hamster nails and you should use them.
They are placed in the hamster’s cage, and with their artificial hiding places, they offer both fun and nail reduction.
The hamster will love to hide and play in the garden center, and at the same time, in a natural way, the nails will always be short and neat.
Lava rocks
Lava rocks reduce the nails of hamsters just by having your pet climb on them. When hamsters climb on such rocks, their nails become shorter, so you just need to place them in their cage.
Some hamsters may refuse to climb the lava rocks, so you’ll need to find a way to entice the hamster to use them.
For example, place a piece of lava rock in front of the exercise wheel, in front of the tunnels, or in front of the water bottle to get the hamster to climb on them and wear out its nails.
Why is it important that hamsters’ nails need always to be short?
Hamster nails need to be kept short because otherwise they will grow long and begin to curl and dig into the paws themselves.
When the nails infiltrate in the paws, they will cause pain in your pet, which also causes stress, which is the biggest enemy of their health.
Stress causes diseases in hamsters and shortens their lifespan. If the nails grow very long they will be a problem for the hamsters when they need to be groomed.
Overgrown nails will only get problems in hamsters’ self-grooming, and they won’t be able to groom themselves properly, which means they won’t be able to maintain their hygiene at the required level.
What are the signs that a hamster’s nails are too long?
To know if your hamster’s nails are too long and need to be trimmed, just look at them.
When the nails are too long they will start to curl inwards towards the paw or they will start to curl to the side.
It is best to use toys to trim your hamster’s nails before they start to become overgrown to avoid problems for your pet.
Do hamsters trim their own nails?
Yes, hamsters can trim their own nails. Hamsters only trim their nails when grooming, digging, foraging, and climbing.
However, older hamsters cannot trim their nails on their own because when they are older they move much less, and they don’t have much activity to trim their nails.
In any case, if the hamster does not cut its nails on its own, nail-trimming toys and scissors for cutting them are here to help you.
An alternative to nail-trimming toys for hamsters
If nail-trimming toys fail to reduce your hamster’s nails then you should use scissors to trim them.
Manual trimming of hamsters’ nails can be a little disturbing to your pets because they are not used to such a thing, but the nails must be trimmed anyway, it is for their health and hygiene.
You can give them a tasty treat after you trim their nails to let the hamster know that you have rewarded them for allowing you to trim their nails.
However, if you can’t trim their nails yourself, you can always take your hamster to a vet to get the job done.
Read more: Can You Use Beach Sand for Hamsters? Let’s Discover
Conclusion
Hamsters must have their nails trimmed occasionally when they are overgrown and long, otherwise, they will interrupt with grooming and start to cause pain.
If the nails are too big, they can start to curl towards the paw and therefore their cutting must be done.
Nail-trimming toys such as sand baths, wooden wheels, bendy bridges, and other toys are a great way to ensure that your hamster always has normal-sized nails.
If you do not succeed with the toys, the nails of the hamsters should be cut with special scissors for that purpose.
Read more: What Happens If You Accidentally Step on Your Hamster?
