# Another hedgehog nail problem.



## cholesterol (May 9, 2012)

Yea, another one. 

My hedgehog has a serious nail problem. Every few days now, I have found her with a bleeding nail. I find it, I examine it. The nail is always askew. And always, within a couple hours, the nail itself is completely gone and I am stuck with a very upset hedgehog.

So far this has happened twice, both times on her front feet. I'm waiting on the third time as we speak. I saw the blood an hour ago and the nail was askew. 
I clip her nails, yea I know how, but clipping them hasn't helped the problem.
There are also no rough surfaces here. My floors are hardwood, and I use carefresh in her cage. She plays in plastic and cardboard tubes. Where in **** would her nails get caught?

Generally after the nail comes off, I wash her foot and apply polysporin. She usually sleeps off the pain and doesn't chirp up until it's scabbed over.

TL;DR
My hedgehog is minus three nails in two weeks.

-Why are her nails being ripped out?
-How can I prevent this?
-Is there a better way to treat her nail-less toe?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

What kind of wheel do you have for her?


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## cholesterol (May 9, 2012)

nikki said:


> What kind of wheel do you have for her?


I have a Silent Spinner 12" wheel. After the first nail went, I started monitoring her nails after she came off the wheel. They were fine. Have you had problems with this type of wheel?

Edit: I realized that I sounded like a moron. No, I didn't make her run on the wheel with bleeding nails. That would have been terrible. I waited for the nails scab over, and now I only let her run a teensy bit. It's not more than a few go-rounds, and she knows when to stop.

In fact, today I didn't let her use the wheel at all. I don't know what could have caused it.


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## pickles17 (Feb 18, 2012)

The silent spinner is a dangerous wheel for hedgehogs and is known to rip off nails.

I'll refer you to this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=43&t=14937

which explains it a little more a long with photos.


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## cholesterol (May 9, 2012)

pickles17 said:


> The silent spinner is a dangerous wheel for hedgehogs and is known to rip off nails.
> 
> I'll refer you to this thread:
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for the information. I won't use this anymore, and no doubt it contributed to her nails.

But I'm afraid that my problem might still remain. Just now, I realized that my hedgehog had not used the spinner today. I haven't let her because she ripped her second nail two nights ago, and I've been afraid of the scab opening again. I trimmed her nails yesterday. Perhaps her third nail had ripped slowly, and been aggravated all this time? Or some such...

Do you have any advice?


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

Is there any kind of mesh in her cage? could she be climbing and catching a nail that way? what about fabric? I would suspect the wheel but it could be something else


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## pickles17 (Feb 18, 2012)

It would be my suspicion that perhaps that nail tore a little and not completely a few nights ago and is just coming off now.
No problem for the information! Most people on here have Carolina Storm Wheels which are the best (in my opinion) because they are so quiet. The comfort wheel is also a safe wheel to have, I had this wheel prior to the CSW though and it was noisy, but either will work. 

I think you should just continue what you were doing, cleaning the foot and putting some ointment on it and wait until it heals up.


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## Fireflycross (Jan 17, 2009)

Comfort wheels are available at Petsmart: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=4191237
Decent price, easy to clean.


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