Checking in with health

Hi everyone!

So I have a beardie, Rufus, who's about to be 9ish months old. His diet mostly consists of greens (collard, mustard, yellow squash, etc), superworms/mealworms, crickets, calciworms and occasional hornworms. I dust his crickets with calcium, and give him a vitamin supplement every two days. I know I should be feeding him dubia roaches too, but I have a hard time finding places that sell them. Does anyone have any recommendations on what other bugs I should be feeding him and where to buy them from? I've bought from Josh's Frogs before but I didn't know if there was anywhere else better.

Lights are still something that kind of confuse me. I have two regular heat lamps to cover half his tank, then two UVB lights to cover the cool side of his tank. Is that okay? And you have to replace the lights every six months ish right?

I bathe him twice a week, more if I have time. I clean his flooring about every two weeks, or if he poops in it, I change it that day. I deep clean his things and the tank once a month. Is that okay?

My boy used to shed a lot. But lately, he hasn't shed in a long time. Maybe around a month. What can I do to help that? I don't know why he hasn't shed and it's scaring me. I'm a first time beardie mom and I just want him to be the healthiest he can be. Should I take him to the vet?

He also caught his tail on something this week and one of his scales fell off. It looks like it's healing fine, it's a small wound and the rest of his tail doesn't look to be turning black or anything. Is there something I can put on it to maintain cleanliness/his tail health?

Thank you, I know this was a lot!

It sounds like he is getting a well balanced diet, so I wouldn't worry too much about adding roaches. You can get them online from a lot of places. I got my colony starter from ABDragons. Josh's Frogs is also a pretty reputable supplier so continuing with them is a good option if you like their product/service.

The idea with lighting is to simulate natural sunlight. You want to combine heat, bright light, and UVB over the basking area. Use a basking bulb (or two) that get the surface temp up to around 100-105 or so on the basking surface. Put the UVB light right next to that so the most intense UVB is over the basking area. Then have a gradient with less heat and less UVB as you move away from the basking area. They move around during the day to get what they want at a given time. They don't always want/need high heat and lots of UVB. As far as the UVB replacement and distance, it really depends on which bulb you are using. A T8 should be around 6-8'' away and be replaced every 6 months or so. A T5 should be about 12-14'' away from the basking area and be replaced every year or two.

If he likes baths, he can have them whenever he wants. If they seem to be stressful, I wouldn't give him a bath unless he gets soiled. They aren't necessary in most cases, but are fine to offer if they seem to enjoy it. Cleaning anything that comes in contact with poop immediately is good. Cleaning the rest of the enclosure as needed is fine.

They shed much less frequently as they get older. Their sheds also become more patchy. They'll shed a hand at one point, then part of their tail at another. Even down to a single scale shed sometimes. That's normal and nothing to worry about.

As long as the damaged scale seems to be healing and not bothering him, it shouldn't pose an issue. The concern is usually infection setting in which shows up as damaged area appearing to spread or look worse. If it looks like it is healing over, it's probably OK.