Trimming Your Rats' Nails It is not necessary to trim your rats nails. However, rats do have very sharp nails which can scratch you as they play and climb on you. To counter act this, some people will regularly trim their rats' nails to lessen the impact of their claws. It can also be a good idea to trim your rats' nails before introducing a new rat to them. This helps keep the new rat from getting too scratched up in the dominance fights that will follow. The Subtle Approach... One solution is to put a cinder block/brick in your rats' cage. As they play and climb over this cinder block/brick, their nails will naturally wear down. Making The Cut... Some people choose to clip their rats' toe nails. This is perfectly fine. A human nail clipper is the best choice for this. It is usually only necessary to clip the nails of your rat's back feet to be effective. If you use this method, you need to be very careful not to cut the quick of the nail. The "quick" is a red vein that comes out from the base of the nail to about halfway down the length of the nail. (It is visible through the transparent nail.) If the nail is cut too short, and the quick is hit, the nail will bleed somewhat badly. It is a good idea to keep styptic powder on hand to stop the blood flow in case this happens. You can get it at your local pet store. Ordinary flour can also do the trick. It is a two person job to clip your rats' nails. One person should restrain the rat close to their body, allowing the other person free access to one of the rat's back feet. Once you have a foot in hand, completely cover the chosen toe with your own fingers exposing only the nail. This ensures that you don't accidentally cut your rat's toe off while trying to clip your rat's nail. If the rat wiggles, which they will, be extra careful! Locate the end of the quick within the nail and cut the nail off just past that mark. Try to continue until all the back toe nails are cut. If your rat becomes too stressed to work on, try only doing one nail a day instead. Our Preference... We've tried clipping nails and we just don't feel comfortable doing it. Instead, we file our rats' nails with the coarse side of an emery board, which is much safer! It is usually only necessary to file the nails of your rat's back feet to be effective. It is a two person job to file their nails. One person should restrain the rat close to their body, allowing the other person free access to one of the rat's back feet. Once you have a foot in hand, completely cover the chosen toe with your own fingers before filing to ensure that you don't break the toe with the vigorous back and forth filing action. File down the nail until it is dull. Try to continue until all the back toe nails are dull. If your rat becomes too stressed to work on, try only doing one nail a day instead.