My beardie won't stop scratching at his background?

Hello all, I hope I'm posting in the right section!

My bearded dragon Sammy has all of a sudden (about 2 - 3 months ago) started scratching/glass dancing/rubbing his nose on all of his cage walls. She (I actually just found out she was a female) is about a year old and two months now, about 15 inches long. Her substrate is a sheet of wax paper (the wax paper that you use in the kitchen). I try to feed her greens every day but I've run out of superworms and am ordering some more.

I assumed it was because I didn't take her out often enough, but even if I took her out for 4 - 5 hours a day and put him back in, he would still keep doing it! (By the way, when I did take her out, she would run around for about 20 - 30 minutes, then find a place to hide and sleep. :| )

So I researched why this was happening, and I found out that their reflection in the glass could be the problem. I already had a background on the back of the tank, so I covered the smaller sides with tracing paper (on the inside, so there wasn't any reflection). That was yesterday, and so far she hasn't touched those two walls. However, she still kept up the nose rubbing on the front side of the tank (where I can see him), and he also started to almost "jump up" and scratch on the back of her tank, where his background is. Today, I tried turning down her heat lamp (she is in a 42 gallon tank, with a 100 watt basking bulb, so I thought maybe she was getting too hot and excited). It has kind of worked so far, but when she gets warm enough she will still scratch/jump at that back wall. I don't understand, because she can't really see his reflection in that wall? Maybe she wants to get on the big stick in the picture? XD

She never used to do this while I was in class during the day.

Edit: Since I just found out she was female (The pet store I bought her from told me she was a male, so I never second guessed), I'm assuming she may be gravid. But I felt around her belly and I don't feel any eggs?

It's driving me insane and I just want her to be okay. I'm going to get a proper thermometer tomorrow from the store, to see if it's the cage's temperature that's making her do this. Off topic, but what do you guys think would be the best spot-thermometer?

Thank you!

Is she digging at the ground or just nosing at the glass trying to get out? Sometimes they just get bursts of energy and the best thing to do is let them out to run around if it's safe. Setting up a portable basking spot somewhere in the house helps because they will learn to return to it to warm up as needed (I use 3 of these now). If she's gravid she would likely be digging but I'm not certain of that. You could try building a dig box but my guess is it's just extra energy.

Do you have fixed thermometers for the basking site and cool side like this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017N8W90/ For spot checking, a cheap IR temp gun will do the trick https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Temperature-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00CVHIJDK

Thank you for the reply! She's just been nosing at the glass. I agree, but it's weird because it's happened every day from around 10 am - 6 pm since about a month or two ago. That's a good idea, I may get another small basking lamp when I get the money. Yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and have the stuff on hand for the lay box just in case she starts digging at the ground and/or I feel/see eggs in her abdomen.

I do not have anything like that, I had a cheap plastic stick on thermometer (those crappy ones you can get at the pet store), but it was stick on 80 (in the middle of the cage) for the longest time, so I took it off and threw it away. I'll definitely get two of those thermometers you suggested. Would it be worth my while to get a temp gun? Thanks!

A temp gun is nice because you can spot check temps anywhere but if you have those digitals they will do the trick as far as getting the lighting all set. Get the temp gun if the budget allows for it, but I'd consider it extra.

Okay, I got one anyway! Might as well have one because I may need it for future cooking anyway, haha.

I'll still keep a look out for her being gravid, though. I don't want her to feel unsafe or like she needs to escape.

Do y'all think there's any other reason as to why she may be behaving this way, though? I'm curious just in case I have her temperatures/lights right.

It could just be age/hormones. Or it could be personality. My dragon is completely hyper most days so I just let him roam freely when I'm home. It's more often than not just a phase though. It could be lighting related. Once you have your thermometers, adjust the lighting so the basking surface temps are between about 100-105 or so and the cool side is about 75-80 with a gradient between. That will provide plenty of options. Are you using a mercury vapor bulb or do you have a separate light for UVB?

Gotcha. I have two separate lights; a strip light UVB (a long fluorescent bulb that's 18 inches long), and a separate basking light that's 100 watts and it emits white/yellow light. I just ordered a replacement bulb for the UVB because I totally forgot the bulbs stop working after about 6 months, and.. it's been a while since the last replacement. ^^'

That 18'' is probably a T8 tube. That should sit between about 6-8'' above the basking area but isn't strong enough to really cause issues if it's close. It won't be enough beyond about 8'' though. A T5 would be needed for greater effective distances. Your basking light should be fine if it's producing a proper heat gradient across the tank.

About the UVB: there are several places where she can get enough of the light, so I think that's fine.

Now she has managed to rip down the paper I had up on the sides of her tank, so I just took those out. What she does now, is after I turn her lamps on in the morning, after about an hour 15 minutes or so, she then starts to do the regular scratching glass thing. Sometimes I think it's because she's hungry, but when I feed her in the morning (usually about 1.5 hours - 2 hours after I turn on her lights), she'll only eat about a 1/4th of the food (salad and mealworms), and then go right back to the glass scratching. She then proceeds to keep doing it until she's made a giant mess of her cage by spreading out her leftover greens and mealworms. I have no idea what to do ^^'

I know that it could still be the reflection of the glass causing it, but even when I had 3 sides covered, she still scratched at the front, constantly, unless she was basking.

By the way I've also adjusted her temps correctly with the spot thermometer, they weren't that much off to begin with, though.