Normal Behavior?

So I bought a 6-8 month old bearded dragon last Saturday...so like a week and a half ago. I got him in a 40 gallon which I assume he lived his first 6-8 months of life in. I know a week and a half isn't a long time to have him. He seemed like he was starting to warm up to me, I could pet him and he would close his eyes and looks like he was enjoying it. Now I just bought him a new enclosure and changed the substrate cause I was given him with sand. He's acting a little different now, like when I pet him he jerks away and everytime I pick him up he scratches to get out of my hand. Is he stressed from the new enclosure? How long do you think before he gets comfortable again? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process? He doesn't seem to be eating as much either. And on the tile he's having a very tough time catching the crickets so he gives up and I have to take all the crickets out of the enclosure which is kind of a pain.

Hi there, yes it can be stress and some beardies don't really like to be petted. The tile is new + strange to him, I personally don't like or use it. You might try a few layers of newspaper and then put some non adhesive shelf liner on top of that. It's much more like natural ground than hard tile.

To help him catch the crickets, put them in a jar with a pinch of calcium powder, then shake it pretty hard until the cricks are weak + wobbly, then dump them near him. Just do 3-4 at a time to see how many he eats until he's full. Beardies love a weak, slow moving bug and in his case since he can't get traction it will really help him.