Scratchy nails!!

[tzr]

my hands look like they've been attacked by cats and so do my little girls! I tried putting some sand paper on their wheel yesterday, albeit not very well, but all they wanted to do was eat it!! I tried sticking it on a shelf instead but they pulled it up and tried to eat it again. Not having much luck at keeping their nails down. any suggestions anyone??
thanks

[Kins]

Unfortunately that's just something you kind of have to live with I think (well I do anyway). I always have little scratches of some sort on my hands. I just tend to cover up as much as possible though when I have the boys out for playtime, long trousers, long sleeved top with a fairly high neck, so that they can climb on you without scratching too much.

Perhaps, if you are concerned about your little girls getting scratched too much you could get her some little fingerless gloves as extra protection...?

[nickymills30]

hi, my boys are the same, but didn't really think anything of it. I;m always covered in scratches lol, but thats part of their character xx

[smux]

Same here, I just let them do what they want with my hands...the babies bite my nails for me (I stop them if it hurts, of course, they tend to get at the skin under my nails, the little...)...I suppose one thing you could try is a large dustbath for them to muck around in together, it won't be as good as sandpaper but it'll be a little wear and tear for their nails...a washing up bowl would be a suitable sized bath for them, put about an inch of chinchilla dust in it...and of course you can reuse the dust later, just pick out any "bits" they leave behind (I shake the bath left/right vigorously and anything in the dust floats to the surface)

With the sandpaper, it sounds like you might have to buy some strong glue (or double-sided sticky tape) to stick it to the wheel...you could buy another wheel and have one just for the sandpaper so they don't have it permanently, possibly.

[puzzle29]

my babies were the same, and still are. You get used to it
I just put moisteriser on the scratches and they're fine xx

[Whizz]

I've heard that wearing leather gloves whilst handling them stops any biting or scratching.

I have sandpaper in my wheel and my boys aren't too bothered by it, they bit it for about a day and then just ran in the wheel like normal. They've run it down so much (the sandpaper was quite fine) it's pretty much just paper.

[boundbyobsession]

I've heard that putting ceramic tiles in the cage that they can run over will wear down sharp claws. I was just about to buy some and a few of the lava ledges in the hope of reducing the scratches but I'd already put some huge wood planks, extra wood ladders and wood toys in and it seems to have worn the sharp claws down anyway. I have no new scratches today

[puzzle29]

degus can't put their claws in like other animals, so they do tend to scratch when they wriggle. If it really bothers you, you can wear gloves, it works for me. x

[emz]

Like people have said, the nails are sort of something you just really have to get use to. If you don't like the scratches on your hands then perhaps just wear gloves when handling the degus?

As for using sandpaper, am I the only person who dislikes this method? It'd be similar to us walking on a rocky ground I imagine. I have a "degu room" so when I get them out they don't go on my hands any more only my legs, so I haven't had scratchy skin in a while.