trimming claws?

[absolutelycancerous]

so Sully is around 5 months old now, yay! anyway, the past few weeks, when I give him a bath or let him sit with me while I'm on my laptop, I'm noticing he's scratching me--really bad. this morning I held him for a time, before the apartment upstairs had some massive loud noises and scared the tar out of him so he scrambled, and now I've got bleeding scratches all over my hands and arms from his claws!

it's not that they're too long, I suppose, but they're extremely sharp and keep cutting me when I hold him and he runs around on my hands and arms. I've heard of people trimming their claws with nail clippers, but that makes me really nervous, because Sully's only about 13 inches long right now, if that gives you an idea of how small (slender, I mean, not small in length) his claws are. is there anything I can do to dull his claws a little? or do I just have to put up with this?

it's not that I don't like him having claws or anything, it's just that his claws aren't always the cleanest, so I'm almost constantly washing my hands, putting neosporin on, and then band-aids, and it's just kind of gross? just curious what other owners do with this!

 

[StreetMoggy]

I would be really afraid of cutting the Commissioner's nails. I keep slate in his tank, so they never get sharp. but I would maybe try a nail file?

 

[Goonie]

[Moved from General to Health]

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You'll only be clipping off the extended hook part of the nail, and it shouldn't hurt him any.

If your baby is not used to being held down, you can clip his nails shortly after his bedtime, so he'll be nice and calm.

 

[absolutelycancerous]

oh whoops, thank you for moving this thread for me.

and thanks, I'll definitely try that! c: hopefully that'll keep the scratches to a minimum on me, ha.

 

[drakedragon]

You can use baby nail clippers to cut his nails. I was nervous at first about cutting my bearded dragons nails, but I manage just fine and it doesn't hurt her. You just need to take a small bit off the end

 

[CiaraAlexisOnFire]

I always show people this photo. Hope it helps!

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af31/caz8210/Terry/91438Bearded_Dragon_Nail_Diagram.jpg

 

[Goonie]

I always show people this photo. Hope it helps!

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af31/caz8210/Terry/91438Bearded_Dragon_Nail_Diagram.jpg

Yup. The way you'd cut a dog or cat's nail applies to beardies too.

 

[KristineM]

We JUST did this two days ago! We also use slate tile but for whatever reason his front nails needed clipping. Even after watching the video and careful instructions...it took us a week to do it. Haha! It really wasn't bad at all and helped SO much!

Good luck!!

 

[Goonie]

The first time is always the most difficult and take the longest, because you fear hurting your beardie by clipping too close. After a few times, you'll have it down pact and will be able to do it in the blind (trust me, I have, because I can't see close distance of less than a foot).