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Health, Hygiene, and Anatomy

Bathing and Grooming

kumquat37

User

Posts: 118

tricky front feet - 2006/05/09 04:46 Kumquat is pretty good about letting me trim his back nails, but when it comes to those tricky front feet, he flips out! He will NOT let me get at them, and they're really becoming more like claws than paws! It actually hurts when he grips into me, that's how long they are. I'm worried he's not running on his wheel as much because of difficulties from his nails being too long. I've tried every technique I could think of to get him to let me trim the front nails, but he'll just have none of it. I've tried after a bath, but baths actually pep him up and all he wants to do is run all over me. He actually bit my finger once while I was grabbing his little foot, and he is not the biting type. Suggestions please?

Gina

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dzmeadows

Admin

Posts: 1000

Re:tricky front feet - 2006/05/09 18:14 I typically let the hedgehog stand on my hands with my fingers slightly spread, and when the foot falls between my fingers, I clamp down on it and clip the nails that way. If you get high enough on the leg, it is difficult for the hedgehog to get their chin down far enough to bite you. Good luck with him!~
Becca

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aine93

User

Posts: 43

Re:tricky front feet - 2006/05/15 01:04 When I have had hedgehogs who were naughty about having thier nails clipped, my last resort is using the sink. I normally let the hedgie wander a bit to soften the nail and then reach for the foot. If they wont cooperate, a fuller sink has been my savior many a time. When the hedgie would either try to ball up or bite at me, they'd be met with a mouthful of water and wouldnt have a choice about cooperating. This had to be done for years with my first hedgie. I recently had a hedgehog who got a cord around his foot and it needed to be teased out of the wound. Without a full sink to float him in i would never have gotten it out. It kept him unballed and non-biting through some very tricky moments www.patriotpogs.com now in Lunenburg, MA

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Quilted_Lamb
User

Posts: 150

Re:tricky front feet - 2006/05/16 22:11 I normally let the hedgie wander a bit to soften the nail and then reach for the foot. If they wont cooperate, a fuller sink has been my savior many a time.
Amen! Although I usually only can clip 1-2 feet at a time because Jasira is more than willing to roll up in a ball and suck water instead of air. She started at 2 seconds and can now hold her breath for about 5 seconds. Scares the crap out of me everytime! Little stinker knows it too, but I still manage to clip 1 or 2 feet before we give up and wait until next time.

I recently had a hedgehog who got a cord around his foot and it needed to be teased out of the wound. Without a full sink to float him in i would never have gotten it out. It kept him unballed and non-biting through some very tricky moments
I just went through this with Jasira. She got a long string wrapped around her foot. It took me about 40 minutes to tease her out of her ball so I could unwrap it. I will definitely remember the water trick if this happens again. I hope it doesn't, but if I'm going to own hedgies for years and years, I imagine it'll be a problem again somewhere in the future.
Hedgie hugs...Tiffany

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CThogs

Admin

Posts: 1574

Re:tricky front feet - 2006/05/18 23:10 Using two people sometime helps-one to hold, one to clip.

Baby human clippers are sometimes easier and you can get more than one nail at a time if you can line it up right.

If you wrap a washcloth or towel loosely around their middle you can sometimes get the front feet without them squirming with the back feet.

Last night was nail clipping night at our house and we have 3 hedgehogs and used 3 different methods. so keep trying different things. Ann
Connecticut Hedgehogs

We had a great time at Hedgehog Fest 2008!!!

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