Help????

So I'm new at owning a bearded dragon, I adopted him he's around 6 months old I believe and has a missing toe, he has a 40 gallon 150 Repti basking light 10.0 reptisun UVB, he's basking spot is around 95-110 degrees, cool side is around 84ish degree, substrate is repti carpet I feed him mostly dandelion greens and some fruit to switch it up a bit, for live feeding he eats about 40 crickets a day and I dust them with calcium...when I first got him he was all active but I didn't let him out much to not stress him out, he gotten use to me now, but I noticed that he never leaves the cool side not even to bask in the morning hes always hiding in his cave and doesn't wanna be bothered, and sometimes takes a nap...he was shedding last week but he's tail is still in the process... is he stressed? What should I do?

Welcome to the forum!

How long have you had your dragon? They can be pretty stressed due to relocation, and shedding can stress as well - some take it harder than others.
How are you acquiring the temperature? If you're using a stick on dial those things are known to be inaccurate and it's possible the basking area may be too hot.
It sounds like his appetite is good, at least.

traildrifterphalanx":dszdlaty said:

Welcome to the forum!

How long have you had your dragon? They can be pretty stressed due to relocation, and shedding can stress as well - some take it harder than others.
How are you acquiring the temperature? If you're using a stick on dial those things are known to be inaccurate and it's possible the basking area may be too hot.
It sounds like his appetite is good, at least.

Click to expand...

I had it for 20 days so far! And I have a temperature gun!

After 20 days his relocation should be pretty settled.
Is he still active and eating the 40 or so crickets a day? It may be just shed related for the grumpiness

I find this kind of digital thermometer very good, they are accurate (with 1degC) and cheap and I run 3 per tank for all my lizards to get zone temperatures at a glance.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4x-LCD-Digital-Temperature-Thermometer-Fridge-Freezer-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Reptile-/391259141696?hash=item5b18dcb640:g

Something like this is also very good to have in your lizard kit to get a handle on the key surface temperature (basking spot temperature, bath water temperature)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM550-Non-Contact-LCD-IR-Laser-Infrared-Digital-Temperature-Thermometer-Gun-/282335550160?hash=item41bc829ad0:g

I suspect your temperatures are not right (likely the thermometer is reading lower temperatures than they actually are (some dial type thermometers are 25% or more out + or -), they need to be rechecked.

What size crickets are you currently offering him ?
At 6 months old Peppa (F , 240g) and Toothless (M , 180g) were taking about 20x 1/3 to 2/3 size crickets each per day spread over 2 meals (am and pm) + greens and grated veg in the pm.