Gotta bunch of questions bout my beardie, help?

So since Ive been on Ive found out a bunch of stuff that the petstore people did not tell me, so I wanted to kinda recap on things I do know, and ask some questions about what I dont know. So def feel free to tell me what Im doing wrong.
Here goes, be ready bunch of reading-
Homie is 2 months old and I have had him for 3 weeks, he lives in a 20 gal tank, I use an 18" 10.0 uvb strip light, a 100 wat. heating bulb for daytime heat, and a 75 wat. red infrared bulb for night(all zoo med brand). I leave the daylight and uvb on for 12-14 hours, and let him sleep for about 10-12 hours. I use a stick on thermometer( plan on replacing with digital this weekend) placed near the bottem of the tank on the basking side, during the day it reads between 86 degrees and 90 degrees, at night it reads between 60 and 78. I have the lights sit on the mesh lid, which Ive read can block out the uv rays, so how else can I set the light up?
The tank consists of paper towels as the substrate, a hide-away false rock(that he only climbs on lol), a big false rock that has two dishes, one I put water in, and the other I put his salad in, a fake cactus, a long stick from outside(temp.) and a pile of rocks from outside(temp.) I cleaned both before putting in his cage. I also made sure not to pile the rocks high or anything to make sure it doesnt topple over onto him.
I was feeding Homie 3 crickets and salad daily, but thanks to this site he is going to get a lot more crickets. I know now to let him eat as many as he wants in about 10 - 15 mins and to take the rest out when hes finished. I need suggestions on how to remove the crickets( I HATE handleing them). Also I learned that I need to dust the crickets 5 days a week with calcium and the other two days some kind of vitamin(have it written down). I buy a premade salad from the petstore I got him at, it consists of couple diff kinds of lettuces(mainly romaine) and some random veggies, he likes celery so I add it to his salad. I cut it up into manageble pieces(no bigger then the size between his eyes i know i know) before putting it in his tank. I also change his water constantly cuz it gets cold soo fast(any suggestions on keeping his water warm?)
Ok so thats all I can think of to tell you for right now, Ill edit later as I think of more.
Now for questions:
Should I get a 150 wat heating bulb, I dont think the tank is getting hot enough?
What kind of calcium powder do I need to dust the crickets? and do they sale it at petsmart? and how expensive is it?
What humidity should his tank be at?(next on checklist is hydrometer)
How do I keep the water from getting cold soo fast?
how can I set up my lights without having them on the lid(how do I make the lights closer to him?)
How should I remove crickets from the tank?
How often should I change out the paper towels?
How often should clean his items in his tank?
When does he start growing(not too important of a question I know, Im just curious)
How often should he be pooping a day?(from what I can tell he poops once a day, but they are a decent size haha)

I have more questions, but im having a brain fart and again, will edit them in later as I think of them. I know I asked some of the questions above but thought I should retype them so you dont forget to answer them when done reading.
Any advice would help. Thank you.

I'm gonna try to help LOLOL too earlylol. First of all take a deep breath and relax a little,I have some suggestions for you.
1) What type of UVB do you have? Some UVB bulbs have been known to cause eye problems, slow growth,lethargy etc..... ReptiSUN 10 bulb is the best.
2)Eventually you will need to get a 40 gal. breeder tank or bigger,a 40 gal breeder is the smallest recommended size tank for a full grown dragon.
3)As for a water dish, a lot of people don't use a water dish because most dragons won't drink from standing water.Bathing your dragon is important because they soak up water through their vent(where they poop) and this keeps them hydrated. putting your dragon in the bath tub or a rubbermaid container with baby warm water up to his shoulders is a good way to bathe them.You can either put your hand or a wash cloth in the tub for them to feel secure.NEVER leave your dragon unattended in the bath as it could drown.
4)To get proper temps in the enclosure you can use an ordinary household lightbulb and get a fixture for it,much cheaper than buying heat lights or basking lights.Just play around with different wattages of light bulb to get the right temps. The light bulbs need to be bright,not soft white. Also at night to keep your dragon warm (and only if your house gets below 65* at night) you can and should get a ceramic heat emitter instead of using lights. Lights disrupt a dragons sleep patterns.
5)Please get a digital thermometer,any others can be as much as 20* off,either not warm enough or too warm.
6)Basking temps should be 105-110* for a baby dragon.
7) Please make sure to sterilize anything you use from outside,baking at 350* for at least an hour,this will kill any bugs that may be hiding.
8)Herptivite is the name of the vitamin you should use.
9)Please go to http://www.beautifuldragons.com and click on nutrition,it gives a list of good staples and treats for your dragon,lettuce is not really good for them as it is mostly water. Collard greens,mustard greens,and turnip greens are much better.
10)And for the humidity,it should be around 40%. I hope this will help you out,
Hugs,
Sara

Don't have any suggestions about the crickets,sorry. Go to WAl-Mart and get an accurite thermometer(found with outside thermometers) it has both thermometer and hygrometer together for around 12. It also give the hot and cool side temps at one time.

For the crix, use a paper towel tube... Insects run inside, you take out and tap right back into bin. Easy and no touching !
Janie.

sara24354":07300 said:

I'm gonna try to help LOLOL too earlylol. First of all take a deep breath and relax a little,I have some suggestions for you.
1) What type of UVB do you have? Some UVB bulbs have been known to cause eye problems, slow growth,lethargy etc..... ReptiSUN 10 bulb is the best.
2)Eventually you will need to get a 40 gal. breeder tank or bigger,a 40 gal breeder is the smallest recommended size tank for a full grown dragon.
3)As for a water dish, a lot of people don't use a water dish because most dragons won't drink from standing water.Bathing your dragon is important because they soak up water through their vent(where they poop) and this keeps them hydrated. putting your dragon in the bath tub or a rubbermaid container with baby warm water up to his shoulders is a good way to bathe them.You can either put your hand or a wash cloth in the tub for them to feel secure.NEVER leave your dragon unattended in the bath as it could drown.
4)To get proper temps in the enclosure you can use an ordinary household lightbulb and get a fixture for it,much cheaper than buying heat lights or basking lights.Just play around with different wattages of light bulb to get the right temps. The light bulbs need to be bright,not soft white. Also at night to keep your dragon warm (and only if your house gets below 65* at night) you can and should get a ceramic heat emitter instead of using lights. Lights disrupt a dragons sleep patterns.
5)Please get a digital thermometer,any others can be as much as 20* off,either not warm enough or too warm.
6)Basking temps should be 105-110* for a baby dragon.
7) Please make sure to sterilize anything you use from outside,baking at 350* for at least an hour,this will kill any bugs that may be hiding.
8)Herptivite is the name of the vitamin you should use.
9)Please go to http://www.beautifuldragons.com and click on nutrition,it gives a list of good staples and treats for your dragon,lettuce is not really good for them as it is mostly water. Collard greens,mustard greens,and turnip greens are much better.
10)And for the humidity,it should be around 40%. I hope this will help you out,
Hugs,
Sara

Click to expand...

1)Thats what I am using
Thank you that was very helpful!