can I be trimming the teeth myself?

[tjiggit]

One of my gerbils lost one of his teeth when falling from my hand high up above the other month. I took him to the vet to get the teeth trimmed since they growed out to be different lenghts. It costed 85 €!

Now my question is, last night I noticed that he had problems gnawing and looked at his teeth and they were different lenghts again. Can I trim them my self in any way? They're not overgrown yer, just different lenghts which makes it hard for him to gnaw and eat properly. You see, if I can, I would like to awoid going to the vet again paying an other 85€...

[ashgerbil]

i wouldn't recommend trimming the teeth yourself
it might actually be cheaper in the end for the Vet to trim his teeth, rather than you injuring him by accident and having to pay for the more expensive veterinary treatment to heal him

so it's better to take him to the Vets, i would think

[tjiggit]

Okay, I think I'm going to try to file his teeth with a nail-file, that can hardly hurt him. The question is whether it will work or not :S Otherwise I might have to take him to the vet anyway..

My dad clipped our rabbit's teeth when I was a kid without any injury's but since a gerbil is so small it might be harder... Hmm...

Does anyone know if it's common for the teeth to keep growing in different paces after loosing one of them? I'm just wondering if he is going to keep having problems with the teeth in the future too...

[lizzy]

tjiggit said:

Okay, I think I'm going to try to file his teeth with a nail-file, that can hardly hurt him.

Please don't.

Ask your vet, who may be able to shed some light as to why this problem is recurring.

[sticktoyerguns]

Yeah, you can trim teeth yourself. But at least go to the vet for the first ime so they can show you how to do it properly. It doesn't even have to be a vet, look for a breeder or a good petshop that does trimming and can show you how.

[tjiggit]

I guess some of you guys here will think I'm a bad owner now when I actually tried to file the teeth by my self today, It didn't work (maybe because a nail-file isn't the best thing to trim gerbil teeth with ) So we clipped the teeth with a cutting pliers and it worked, We did it fast and of course Baileys fought a bit but no harm done and now he's got his teeth all done.
If something would have went wrong I would have called the vet right away of course.

[hazel2k6147]

Honestly never file a gerbils teeth yourself how do you know how long to trim them and cutting pliers arent really a good tool either. Please see a professional adn ask how oto do it please. Anyway supplying your gerbil with toys and things should keep the teeth down

[tjiggit]

I just cut the tooth of that were to long and let the other one be, i looked at my other gerbil's teeth to se how long they are supposed to be.

Of course I'm going to see a vet if the problems keeps comming up, this was just a one time occasion, if it keeps coming up it might be some kind of illness why he's not biting at both teeth as he should and then visiting a vet is the only right thing to do.

They got a lot of things to chew on, his brother is all well and the reason why he got one tooth longer then the other one from the beginning was because of a jump from my hand, not because of the number of chewing-toys in the cage. From high falls they can loose teeth.

Thanks for caring...

[pepandmax]

I'm in a similar situation--my elderly gerbil (Pep) is no longer chewing on stuff, so his teeth and the way his jaws line up are all messed up. I just took him to the vet, the vet showed me how to trim them properly, and I guess that's what I'm going to have to do from now on... Boo.

[tjiggit]

pepandmax said:

I'm in a similar situation--my elderly gerbil (Pep) is no longer chewing on stuff, so his teeth and the way his jaws line up are all messed up. I just took him to the vet, the vet showed me how to trim them properly, and I guess that's what I'm going to have to do from now on... Boo.

Oh! I'm sorry to hear that! I hope he's going to be allright.

[pepandmax]

Tjiggit, thanks for your concern

We examined Pep again last night after we saw him fumbling with a sunflower seed, and we found that his lower teeth were getting too long again.

We got to put our skills to the test, and we successfully clipped his teeth. The whole task took less than 30 seconds and was FAR less stressful than it would have been if we had needed to wait for a vet appointment and then bring him to the vet.

Still, I wouldn't recommend that anyone try it themselves, unless a vet has shown you how to do it.

Thanks again!
Nicole

[RitzieAnn]

I know it's something that you can do yourself. HOWEVER there is a right way and a very wrong way to do it! Do your research first, and yes, WATCH somebody else do it first. I have to clip Jeff's bottom teeth, as he has no top teeth anymore, so he can't really chew on anything, but I'm nervous to do it just because he wiggles.

[hazel2k6147]

Can I ask what tools do you use. My Vet has special ones but im not ure where he gets them. They're really mini heehee like baby pliers

[tjiggit]

hazel2k6147 said:

Can I ask what tools do you use. My Vet has special ones but im not ure where he gets them. They're really mini heehee like baby pliers

Well, you shouldn't really ask me I guess since I haven't seen a vet do it... But I used an ordinary cutting pliers. (I'm not English but that's the word I found in the dictionary, I hope you understand what I mean).
I can take a pic of it if you want...

[pepandmax]

hazel2k6147 said:

My Vet has special ones but im not ure where he gets them.

Hi hazel,

Ask your vet where he gets them.

Again, this isn't something you want to do unless your vet has shown you how to do it... better still, supervised you as you do it for the first time. The reason I'm not answering your question directly is because lots of people visit the board, many of whom are not registered, and I don't want them to say, "Oh, this board says I can do it with those clippers, so I'm just going to get myself a set and do it myself..." I hope that makes sense.

Nicole