So I really need to trim their nails.

[Cinderwolf]

I don't want to, but I have so many scratches that I can't even count any more. I put a brick in their cage and put the food bowl so they have to walk over the brick to get to it, but it didn't really seem to help : P

So any tips for trimming nails? I''m nervous a uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu5u 9 haha sorry , my rattie stepped on my key board, and it is too cute to erase :giggle: ) I'm nervous about trimming them because I don't want to hurt them, as well, they hate getting ' held ' and squirm when you pick them up, so I have a feeling it will be really hard to clip them, any ways to calm them down.. or at least... hold them down without hurting them?

I didn't think this would be a big deal or a hard thing to do but I watched my friend clip her hedgehog's nails and she hit the quick and he screamed so looud and it sounded so painful, so now I'm scared : (

 

[Nekopan]

Do you have another person that will help you? Get one person to hold, maybe with a spoonful of peanut butter or something yummy. The other person can trim the nails. I use normal human nail clippers. Just take off the very tips. It's pretty easy to tell where the quick is, because rat nails are white. Have some cornstarch on hand in case you do end up nicking it, but it's not as hard as you think.

 

[Cinderwolf]

I can probably get my mom to help me out ( she never passes up a chance to hold the girl ( even tried to reach into my shirt just now to get one out :roll Perhaps I will try this out tomorrow. I have some yogurt they will probably LOVE to get their little tongues on, so I will bribe them with that : ) Luckily they aren't too into running around and love to sit on /with me maybe it won't be quite as difficult Thanks for the tips, I wasn't sure if regular nail clippers would be good.

 

[Chevalrose]

Also, the more you trim their nails, the better they will be. Some rats are good at keeping their nails down, others are lazy Lol. I regularly check my guys nails and trim them. I just hold them in my lap, close to my body and grab their foot close to the toes. As long as I hold their foot well, they can squirm all they want. Plus practice allows me to just get it done fast. It helps to keep the clippers (I use baby clippers, much smaller) perpendicular to their toe to just get the curved tip.

 

[SQ]

Don't use a spoon of peanut butter. Peanut butter is too thick and kill them unless diluted a great deal. (See forbidden foods list at www.petratscanada.com)

Only trim the back toe nails, don't cut the quick, and have something handing to stop bleeding in case you do.
The following article discusses how to trim a rats nails:
http://ratfanclub.org/skin.html

 

[Cinderwolf]

Oh thanks for the link, and yeah I wouldn't use peanut butter, don't want them to choke : (