Ok just a little rant. Beardies can and do digest pinky/fuzzy mice just fine. They are a great source of vitamins (as they are whole food animals) and calcium. They are high in fat and calories, which can be a good thing for a skinny beardie due to illness or egg production. A fuzzy weighs about 6 grams that is many many crickets. They should not be a staple food, but can be a supplement. I have feed egg producing females 3-4 fuzzy mice a week for the week after they lay, this in addition to their salad, crickets, and supers. Never once seen a dragon have an issue digesting them. The bones are fairly soft as pinkies are still developing. They do have their place in a dragons diet. Think about this, what do dragons eat in the wild? Think they get all the salad they want, and 40-50 crickets? No they eat whatever they can. This includes lizards, bugs, small mammals, and vegetation. In captivity we are feeding them a very select diet that is unnatural. Is this a bad thing? No, but things that they naturally eat in the wild are not bad things to feed them in captivity. On the parasite note almost every food you feed your dragon can carry parasites. Crickets, worms, and greens. I personally have always fed my dragons frozen thawed fuzzy mice, thus lowering the risk of parasite infestation down to a very low risk probably lower than any other food that is offered besides pellets, even then their is the water used to soak the pellets. Also a very key thing to note about parasites is, that if your dragon is being kept properly and stress free then the dragon's immune system will stop any breakouts of parasites. Parasites usually only become an issue when the dragon is kept improperly or is stressed out. Something I think a lot of people overlook.



Peace

Derek

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