skin skin disease

Question
I have recently purchased 2 gerbils from a classmate and I noticed they had a brownish almost scaly looking bald patch on their bellies. I have alot  of experience with small animals esspecially gerbils and i have never seen it before. i suspected it was mites but i did a skin scraping and could not see anything unusual. I kept the 2 gerbils i purchased far away from my other gerbils but today i noticed one of my gebils have the same patch. I think its possible it had it before the other ones came since i just got them yesterday. The skin patch just looks a little discolored and hairless its very hard to see because the fur covers it unless you spread it apart

all gerbils have it on their bellies and its pretty much int he same exact shape on all of them

Answer
Hello Michael,

Is it in a sort of oval/line shap on the centre of the belly? All gerbils have a hairless patch in the centre of their bellies which is where their scent gland is located!! It may be more visible on some gerbils than others, but this is nothing to worry about as it is totally natural!! From what you are saying it sounds as though this is what you are describing and so i don't think you need to worry!!

I really hope this helps you,
Charlie.