New Bearded Dragon Owner Here!

Hello fellow beardeddragon.org users! I have recently adopted an approx. 1 month old bearded dragon from a local pet store along with necessities for it and wanted to make sure my enclosure set up is perfect for it! I also wanted to make sure I am feeding it the correct diet and amounts of food.
I purchased the ZooMed 20 Gallon Enclousure kit after rearching information on Bearded Dragons. The kit includes: 20g Tank, ReptiSand (I swapped this substrate for a Reptile Carpet after researching about how sand can cause impaction), a water and food dish, a heat rock (I snipped off the wire for the heat rock after researching about how they can burn the bellies of beardies so I only use the rock as a natural warm spot for it) a ZooMed thermometer strip (70f-110f), a terrarium hood which includes a 5.0 UVB Fluorescent bulb, a dual lamp fixture for a 100w Repti Basking Spot Lamp(UVA) and a 100w Nocturnal Infared Heat Lamp. I also purchased a Medium Sized Hanna Hut and the previously mentioned Reptile Carpet to replace the sand substrate. I also gathered some small logs from my back yard and a medium sized stone block to make a home made basking area for my beardie! (I made sure to wash the logs and stone block then soaked them in 10% bleach then thoroughly rewashed them to clear all of the bleach off and sun dried them for 4 hours until fully dry.) Here is my current enclosure! vvv

I have been feeding it crickets (it eats about 8 a day in 3 or 4 feeding sessions, then i remove uneaten crickets) wax worms (it eats about 5 a day in 2 feeding sessions) ZooMed Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food (it has had trouble barely eating very much of this) -NOTE: I POWDER ALL OF THE ABOVE FOODS WITH ZooMed ReptiCalcium WITHOUT D3.- and I will also feed it 1 CalciWorm a day.
As for Vegetable Matter I will make him a small salad with Carrots, Skin Peeled Cucumbers, Romaine Lettuce and half a Blueberry (I am also having trouble with having it eat anything except the romaine lettuce, only small nibbles to everything else)

I keep my 5.0 UVB Bulb on 24/7 and keep the 2 other lights on during the day. Please reply with any tips or let me know if ive done something wrong and how to properly fix my error! Thank you very much!

Hi. Set up is nice. There are a few things that need to be replaced. Those stick on thermomete thermometers are very inaccurate. You want a temp gun or a digital with a wire probe. You need to know the temperature on the basking spot. Replace the uvb with a reptisun 10.0 t5 tube. The one you are using is probably a t8 and therefore it's not very strong. You can look on the end of the bulb and it'll tell you. Also no heat or lights on at night. Beardies need it completely dark and cool to sleep.

destiny1998":2fsazqfe said:

Hi. Set up is nice. There are a few things that need to be replaced. Those stick on thermomete thermometers are very inaccurate. You want a temp gun or a digital with a wire probe. You need to know the temperature on the basking spot. Replace the uvb with a reptisun 10.0 t5 tube. The one you are using is probably a t8 and therefore it's not very strong. You can look on the end of the bulb and it'll tell you. Also no heat or lights on at night. Beardies need it completely dark and cool to sleep.

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Thank you very much for the information! I will be sure to keep the lights off and make sure to keep the tank above 70f+ at night. I ordered a Reptisun 10.0 t5 tube and will receive it in a couple days and will replace it as soon as it arrives. I will also receive a Digital Thermometer or Temp Gun as soon as possible!

Good to know! Keep me posted