bald spots - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**Curly's Slave** · #1 03-06-06, 04:16 pm

so far my gp has no bald spots except for behind her ears, which i know is normal. the only problem is that the spots seem too big. her fur and skin in that area are brown but at the outer edge of the spots the skin turns a lighter color. how big should the spots be and is the skin coloring normal?

**ellenvega** · #2 03-06-06, 05:52 pm

The size of the spots depends on the pig, so it's probably normal. Is her skin flaky? Has she ever been treated for mites?

**Curly's Slave** · #3 03-06-06, 07:45 pm

no she's never been treated... the spots are about 2 mm wide (from ear to end). she's not particularly big and is only about 1 year old. should i be worried or am i being paranoid?

**MetallichicA** · #4 03-06-06, 07:48 pm

My pigs have always had bald spots behind their ears that are as big as the ears themselves... As in, if you flattened their ears back along their head, the bald spots are that big. 2mm sounds pretty small

**C&K** · #5 03-06-06, 08:28 pm

Are you sure 2 mm is the right measurement? It sounds unnoticable, actually, smaller then it should be. I like MetallichiaA's explaination that they are the size of the ears themselves. If yours are a bit bigger, I would not be worried however. I remember being worried about that when I first got my girls too.

**daftscotslass** · #6 03-07-06, 12:52 am

With regards to colour, it depends on the colour of the fur. Dark fur (usually dark ginger fur to black) has dark skin, ranging from brown to black. Light fur (white to light ginger) has pink skin. Poorly marked agouti or brindle colours (black/brown and ginger mix) can have skin that is black with spots of pink skin. This is normal.

If the skin is flaky, however, or the guinea pig is losing hair, you would need to see a vet. All mine measure about 1cm or slightly less.

**C&K** · #7 03-07-06, 02:31 am

Quote:

With regards to colour, it depends on the colour of the fur. Dark fur (usually dark ginger fur to black) has dark skin, ranging from brown to black. Light fur (white to light ginger) has pink skin. Poorly marked agouti or brindle colours (black/brown and ginger mix) can have skin that is black with spots of pink skin. This is normal.

Very true, I would not be concerned at all about the change in colour in the bare spots, unless or course, it has changed over time. It sounds like natureal pigment variations, if they had hair there, the hair would be changing colour.

**Curly's Slave** · #8 03-07-06, 01:12 pm

[quote=Cavies-and-Kids]Are you sure 2 mm is the right measurement?

sorry... i meant 2 cm... i finally decided that the skin just turns pink after the bald spot. for some reason she is mostly brown but all of her skin is pink (?).

**ellenvega** · #9 03-07-06, 07:04 pm

Can you post a picture?

**MetallichicA** · #10 03-07-06, 07:11 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curly's Slave

i finally decided that the skin just turns pink after the bald spot. for some reason she is mostly brown but all of her skin is pink (?).

Yup, that's normal

Just like our skin is pinkish (forgive me for generalizing here but you get my drift) but our hair can be black, brown, blonde, red, etc.