| RE: skin problem or more?
Looks like scale rot to me Nightowl, definitely something serious going on in the tissue under the skin, and vet attention would be a must. Not sure if it could be related to a viral infection, the symptoms of those are often neurological and respiratory, more than physically evident like that. I'd plumb for fungal or bacterial from the picture, but you'd wonder what would cause the immune system to be compromised enough to get that happening in the first place, especially if the environmental factors of caging, heating etc were OK. Some of the antibiotics use in treating RIs and common infections can be quite toxic to kidneys etc too, so it looks like another trip to the vet eh? Please keep us posted, and good luck!
Jamie. | 
