New bearded dragon, help please!

I picked up my first bearded dragon 2 days ago. I'm just having a few concerns that I'm hoping can get addressed here. First off, I'm unsure how old it is, because I was just told it was a baby. He's about 4-5 inches including the long tail. I have him in a 60 gallon tank, appx. 36x18 and 24" tall. I'm going to include a picture and that will probably save me from a lot of typing to explain it. I hope I can figure out this picture thing.

(I know he can't use that hammock thing until he's bigger, but put it in there so the tank isn't so empty.)
Anyhow, I've set it all up according to the seller's instructions. We have a long white UVB light across the top that stays on 14 hrs. a day. Then we have the red heat lamp on one side with a log for basking. My question is, he's always underneath the heat lamp, nonstop. I put a thermometer in the other side of the tank and it's temp varied from 67-72. Isn't that too cold? Should I buy another heat lamp for the other side?

Also, I'm having issues/worries about feeding. I got 2 dozen crickets (the very small kind) when I got him. The place mixed the two powders in the bag and shook them up. He said empty the bag into the tank and once they're gone, get more. So, I emptied them into the tank and I think he's only ate a single one. I also bought the collared greens, mustard greens and turnip greens and minced them small. I put those in a dish as well and he hasn't touched them. I mist daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times because he opens his mouth and drinks the water. I'm so worried about him not eating. Am I doing something wrong? I bought some zoo-med pellets but I don't want to try them in case I'll confuse him even more.

Lastly, about handling. I'd love for him to be a friendly pet that we can frequently hold etc. How often can I be handling him now? I hold him for 5 minutes about 2 times a day just to get him used to it. But now I'm worried about him getting cold if he isn't under the heat lamp. Also, I tried putting him in a seperate smaller container with some crickets in case that was why he wasn't eating, but they were jumping right in front of him and he didn't make any efforts.

Thank you sooooo very much for reading this much. I appreciate any help you can give me. I'm completely new with everything and I'm entirely open to any suggestions. Hopefully in a few years, with this forum's help, I'll be the one giving advice to others. Thanks again.
Here's a picture of the lil guy and one with my 6 yr old son so you can see the size for comparison.

Okay well it looks like we are going to have to make some changes
First of all, get those wood chips out of there.
Get some reptile carpet/newspaper/paper towels for the bottom it's alot safer for your dragon.
Secondly get rid of the red light, and get a normal household bulb.
You must use a digital thermometer to read the temperatures the stick on ones are terrible.
Temperatures need to be between 105-110.
The uv light, do you know the manufacturer?
It sounds like you got the right kind (flourescent) just don't know about the model, you want to get a Reptisun 10.0, it's the best.
You need to have the UV light and heat light together so your dragon can bask and get his uv at the same time.
You want one side to be hot one side to be cold
The crickets need to be no larger than the space between his eyes.
http://www.mulberryfarms.com sells great loads of crickets for very cheap.
All your greens are great so good job on those.
The uv light? is it new or old? they need to be replaced every six months.
Don't mist it raises humidity and can cause a Respiratory infection.
Give him a nice warm bath not hot, and have the water go to his shoulders.
Pellets are terrible in my opinion? how long have you had him?
I went through about 2 weeks of about 5 crickets a day to almost 50 crickets a day.
They go through relocation stress and don't want to do anything.
Let him adjust to his new home give him a week then you can handle him.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.
I'll take out the woodchips now. Are those garbage, or can they be used later on down the line once he's bigger?
Get rid of the red light all together? Isn't that what gives him heat? If I use a regular household bulb, how many watts? This bulb now is the ExoTerra 150W infrared bulb. It gets very hot, and since it's somewhat high up on the tank, would the normal bulb even get hot enough? Would I still keep it on 24hrs. a day?
The long bulb across the top is a Repta-Sun 5.0 UVB. It's brand new, as I just got it a couple days ago. This one we only leave on from 8am-10pm.
Don't mist at all? I was told to mist the entire inside and the bearded dragon once a day every day. This may sound ignorant, but how do I do the bath? I just hold him in the warm water? The guy that sold me the dragon said I needed to get that special rock water dish so that there was grip in case he fell in, he wouldn't drown.
The crickets in there are very small, so that's not an issue, but he isn't touching the greens. Also, I added 20 crickets on Wednesday night, and now 48 hours later, there's still a lot left. I don't think I've seen any poop yet either, although I'm unsure what I'm looking for.
I hope you don't think I'm an *****. I really want to do everything right, but it's so confusing when so many people are saying different things. I really appreciate the help.

Woodchips are just garbage that's for sure.
Yes get rid of the red light all together, and just get a normal house hold bulb and put it with the UV light.
14 hours is way too much light, just go from 8-8. You turn off the UV and household bulb together.
Like I said temps must be 105-110 in the basking area that's where your uv and heat light are shining together.
Reptisun 5 is fun, your dragon must be able to get between 6-8 inches close to it. And since your dragon will be that close then a 150 will be too hot for him.
I recommend about a 70w to a 100w you will have to experiment.
Just make sure he can get the uv and heat together.
Please do not mist it raises the humidity and like i said that causes problems.
How some people bath is they get the water to shoulder length on the dragon then place a cloth on the bottom for the dragon to grip on.
How they get the water is through vents so through their "butt" and through the mouth.
Oh please please please don't leave the crickets in with him, they need food and the best food is your dragon and I have seen some nasty nasty bites on dragons before.
You are not a *****(whatever that is) i went through the same problems.
Just trust me, this happened to me at the beginning and many users on here helped me out with the information I am giving you now and now my dragon is a very healthy big boy.
Baby dragons hate greens but leave them in their for him to try when he wants.
I am here to help.

Again, just want to clarify...
Throwing away woodchips now. Thanks for that heads up.
The red light is too hot? Just try the regular bulb until the thermometer shows 110 degrees in the basking spot? If I turn them both off at night, won't he get too cold?
If I put the warm water in a tub and watch him while he's in there for a while, how long should I do that for? How long should the bath last? Is this supposed to be warm, like what I'd bathe a child in? Once it's done, I just put him back into his regular setup and let him air dry? I'm picturing myself towel drying a teeny tiny reptile and it's making me giggle.
Lastly, how do you do the crickets? I was told (from someone who I'm beginning to think isn't very smart and made me waste a lot of money!) that I should throw in all 24 crickets at once. Once they're gone, put another 2 dozen in. He said to continue that, and I'll be adding more every day to 3 days. I was under the impression all 24 would be gone within 48 hours. Do I keep the crickets in a tupperware or something and just add a few at a time?
My ******* meant 1d1ot. I didn't realize that's a censored word. Sorry, oops.
Thanks for the information. I'll be making these changes soon.

Yeah what are you using to measure temperatures?
If your house stays above 60 degrees you don't need to keep him warm. Plus the red light just keeps him awake at night and is not healthy for him. If it does get too cold you can use a ceramic heat emitter which just gives heat but no light.
Just get rid of the red bulb they are bad.
I personally let my dragon go till the water is cold, and then I put him under his light to dry off, but some people like to put their dragons into beardie burritos and cuddle.
I had trouble with my dragon and he got really scared by too many crickets, so i did about 3 at a time.
Also don't let them dust the crickets for you all the time.
It shoudl be 5 times a week they will be dusted.
Get rep-cal calcium and the vitamins make sure you get it with D3.
I kept mine in a cricket keeper that I got and gave them water gels and food.
You want to fed the crickets it's called gut loading it makes sure they are nutritious for the dragon.
I also want to add that I hate crickets because they gave my dragon parasites I personally like worms some people like roaches.
(Can't stand roaches)
http://www.herpvetconnection.com should be able to help you find a vet in your area if you ever need it.
A baby dragon eats about 25-100 crickets in a day but once again your baby is under relocation stress so just give him some time.
Once you get him the proper lighting and he is able to get the correct UV and heat at the same time he will be alot happier

This is making more sense now. I wondered how I would ever take him out of the house if he needed that constant heat. If I want to make a 2 hour car ride to our summer home, I can easily do that now as long as he has the heat bulb available once we get there, right? And if I make an appt. at the vet, it'd survive the time away from his normal surroundings.
I'm going to cringe now and say I am using the temperature stick on strip they had me buy. Apparently I got some really bad advice. I already added the digital kind to my list.
Our house is 68 in the winter and 72 in the summer.

As for crickets, I paid 20$ for two jars of the powder and he said to dust them each time I bought them. The jars are Fluker's Reptile Vitamin and Fluker's Calcium with Vitamin D3.
I guess I'll look into some sort of smaller plastic keeper with the water packs for crickets. If I get 100 at a time, won't they start chirping before I use them all? Or get too big for him to eat? And, with a dragon this small, do I get the pinsize crickets if ordering online? Can I do worms this early? Aren't they way too big right now? That's definitely something worth looking into down the line. I was told those were only for an occasional treat.

Thanks again.

Ha ha yeah, I mean some people take their dragons out for 3-4 hours a day and they are absolutely fine, as they long as they a moment to heat up. Just between you and me they are some realy @ssholes out in the world that don't even give their dragon heat and the poor dragon has survived (albeit barely).
Yeah that temperature can actually be off by about 20 degrees which really sucks.
Hey let me tell you one thing they actually got the vitamin/calcium right so that's good .
Crickets only really start chirping near adult hood.
Like I said start at small when your dragon is eating every single cricket that's when you buy alot at a time.
Soft worms are really super great because there is no impaction, I love soft bodied worms because any size is fine (dragon may be intimadated though). http://www.mulberryfarms.com has great soft bodied worms.
The best:
Silkworms
Hornworms
Phoenix worms
Butterworms.

Phoenix and butter worms you don't need to dust.
Wax worms are a treat they are extremely fatty, I personally don't ever use them.

As far as the heat goes...Like it was suggested, use a regular bright white or clear household bulb...start with 75 watts, then increase or decrease depending on the temp of the basking spot. Beardies need their environment to cool down at night for their metabolism and their health, so you absolutely don't need heat at night unless the temp in his viv drops below 65 degrees...otherwise, even at his young age, he will be fine at night. He needs that cool down period at night. Then when you trun on his lights in the morning, you want to wait to feed him for 1-2 hours so he can get warmed back up. Hope this gives you less worry about night time heat requirements. I just don't get these pet stores and how they can be soooooo misleading!!!
Good luck with your little one and keep us updated!!
Puffsmama
http://www.ourbeardies.blogspot.com

You're little guy looks about as big as my Chaka =) Just a basic rule of thumb, don't feed your little one anything bigger than the space between his eyes so crickets that are 1.5 week old should be great and I've found the easiest way to get instant accurate temperature readings on the cold side(85') and basking spot(110' for babies) is to use an infrared temperature gun. Just point the lazer to take temps on his baking spot and at the opposite side of the cage. Chaka never touched his veggies too for the first while but about a week later I tried throwing an entire leaf in and he downed it like nothing. I asked around afterwards and they told me that the leaves don't need to be itty bitty bite sized pieces but I should atleast rip them up so I tried ripping into a bit larger bits but not much bigger than space between his eyes and he continued to eat them =) So far you seem to be doing a great job, and we'd love to see more pictures :wink:
Good luck!
-Rissa

Thats good your taking out the wood chips, I did the mistake by having red desrt sand in mine for 8 weeks. For the past 4 days she has been biting and eating the sand so today the sand got removed and tiles got put in. So all i'm saying is yes your some beardies do fine with sand for while just like my girl did then one day they decide to eat it. It was werid tho my girl was eating the sand like it was crickets even tho she had veggies in her enclosure and wouldn't take anymore crickets she decided she would gobble down on the sand. For her saftely and my mind i took the sand out and replaced with tiles. Thank god it didn't cause impaction yep shes still pooing,eating,active and alert. Well not eating much today due to the changes of her enclosure 8 2cm crickets.

:lurk:

well i didnt know about the nighttime temps, so thank you.

what about in the winter if the house gets cooler than 65 degrees will an under tank heater work? and should it be under his little house? or somewhere else?

and i got some really great advice form someone on here. to use slate tiles in the tank instead of substrate. it a one time buy (unless you upsize your viv) and when they get dirty you take it out wash it and put it back. pretty easy. plus you can buy a few extras for a quick change. cause beardies get really freaked out by their own poo. haha :laughing6:

some one also said that you can pick up a digital therm with a probe at wal mart for about 12 bucks.

here is a link that i picked up from a thread in feeding that might help.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I gave Yoda his first bath Saturday. He did very well and even swam around a little bit. The water was only up to his shoulders, and it didn't cover his back so I just poured it off my hand on his back. He did seem to like it. I took out the bark and put down white paper towel. The UVB light is along the middle of the tank on top. It doesn't look very bright, but it is lighting up the tank, so I'm assuming it's doing its job. It's the Repta Sun 5.0, 24" 20 watt. I didn't switch out the infrared 150W heat bulb YET, because I just wanted to see about the temp. He never climbs to the top highest part of his basking log thing so I thought maybe the red bulb is too hot. Well, I went and bought a digital therm and I set the little probe in his basking spot. It started at 76 degrees out of the package, and now it's been in there for about 20 minutes and it slowly rose up to 89 degrees. So, it's definitely not hot enough. BUT, why doesn't he crawl all the way up to the top of the log to be closer to the lamp and get hotter? If I replace the heat lamp with a regular 75watt lightbulb, will that make it hotter?
My other problem is his eating, or lack thereof. After his bath Saturday, a few hours later, he ate about five crickets that we could see. I put more in a few times yesterday, but ended up taking them out at night time before the lights went off. He didn't seem to eat many of them. Today I put about 8 crickets in at 10am (2 hrs after lights on) and now there's still 3 that I can count. If he is eating, it's not a lot. Since I put the paper towel in Saturday afternoon before his bath, I can only see 1, maybe 2 poops. So, I'm really worried. I'm still offering the fresh greens every day, but he hasn't touched them at all. Advice? I was going to order some phoenix worms tonight if that might help.
Thanks so much for the advice. Oh, and it's officially been five days now at home, so he should be starting to adjust to the new environment.

You may want to up the wattage on the house hold bulb. I have had great success with flood lights. Yup, outdoor flood lights give a good bit of heat, so that coupled with a Repti-Sun 10.0 will be everything he needs.
The 5 isn't all that great, though I would upgrade to the 10 as soon as you can.
Here is a link to one, that is cheap :
http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

I am a bit concerned about the calcium. Does it contain phosphorous ? If it does, then you'll need this instead:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-supplements/105551/rep-cal-ultrafine-powder-calcium-with-vitamin-d3.html

I hope this helps out !
Janie.

I'll buy that light, it's cheaper then the one I got ripped off on right now!

The calcium I have says phosphorus free, so I'm good with that. If only he ate some crickets to get it! This lil bugger is making me worry more than I've ever worried with my own kids! ...and I've only had him 5 days!