Sudden change of "behaviour"? 5 month old

I picked the dragon up early October of 2017, he was a month old i think. Young, fit and healthy. He eats around 8+ brown crickets per day and rocket as his veg. He lives in a nice (expensive) vivarium with all the correct equipment. A UV tube light and a head spot lamp with a thermostat. Averaging 30*c... Recently about a week ago, we`ve decided to let him roam free in our front room, where he explores, climbing under the most annoying `to get to` places and ends up down the side of our electric fire where he sleeps. We turn his lights on every morning at 8:00 and off at 19:45... So he is a very healthy dragon without showing any signs of "an illness"...

It was only today, about an hour after feeding his his daily dose of live brown crickets, we let him out into our front room, about 30 minutes of roaming around, he suddenly shot under our sofa lightening speed!

It was about 20 minutes later, i was asked to help get him from under the sofa without crushing him. In which i lifted the sofa up and he was laying there, quite cold and very dark...

I believe he goes dark when he is cold...

After i picked him up (by the correct way), he shot up to my neck, at again, lightening speed. Into his tank he shot off into the cooler part of my vivarium. After letting him cool down for an hour, i lifted him up and moved him into the warmer part of my tank... In which he kinda jumped into a strange position and just stood there, not moving staring at me.

For about an hour, he has been in the same position (staring at me).

Thinking dehydration might have a play in this, i gave him a little bath, where he didn't really do much apart from do a big poop....

After taking him out of the bath, i dried him off and let him back into his vivarium.

At this present time, while typing this, i`m going downstairs to see whats changed...

So having just checked up on him, i`ve been told he seems okay now, he isn`t in a strange position, he is actually just chilling on the log inside his tank..


Any ideas?

Most likely just got spooked by anyone towering over him, or making a sudden movement.

Theres a few things wrong with his diet, temps and lighting times. For the diet he needs way more crickets then you give him.
He needs to eat twice a day at this age, 10-20 crickets each feeding or however many crickets he wants in a 10-15 minute time period to grow healthily.

For the lighting times it needs to be on for at least 14 hours. However I may have misunderstood as Im not very familiar with military time.
What brand of UVB do you currently have and is it a t5 or a t8? A 5.0 or a 10.0?

As for your temps you need to bump it up if 30*c is the basking temp. It would work great for a cool side temp though.

Basking temp - 100-110 ( 37*C - 43*C )
Warm side - 90-95 ( 32*C - 35*C )
Cool side - 70-85 ( 21*C - 29*C )

I have a couple ideas. (My boy is a very healthy, happy three year old, and I have good knowledge of dragons behavior and needs) When my boy Dezi is about to have a big poo, he sometimes gets jumpy and makes quick dashes...he prefers to poo on linoleum or tile, as opposed to going on me, my bed, or the persian rug. So, he will make a fast dash, eventually find the nearest tile, and do his business. You mention that his bath did stimulate him to have a big poo.

Another thought is that when he was right around five to six months old, Dezi started to behave oddly-- he was less friendly, more skittish, moody. Not enough to be a biter, or anything like that, but noticable, to me, since I spend so much time with my dragon. My friend who also has a beardie said his beardie went through that same thing at that age. I suspect it is a Beardie version of the teens...new hormones, etc., This phase lasted a few weeks, and Dezi even had some "play sex" with some of his stuffed toys, and showed some aggression against, of all things, black shoes! It was all very amusing. He would charge the offending shoe from across the room, then stop just before touching it, then rock himself back and forth on his forelegs. Then, he would very gently bump his nose on the offending shoe! Visitors thought he was being friendly, and it was cute, so I did not inform them that it was actually being territorial, and not friendly at all. Well, all of this odd behavior went away after a few weeks, and DeziLu was back to his wonderful, relaxed self. That was the only time he went through such a phase. The stuffed toys survived his molestation, and that behavior has not been seen since.

here is a photo of Dezi having his "fun time" with one of his toys. He would grasp it by the neck, shake it, then tussle with it under him!<<<<...dragon porn alert!-->>>>???
So, maybe your beardie is getting some new hormones, and feeling a bit randy. He is at the right age for that. Watch for any signs of physical illness or distress, but do not be too worried. Do not let him stay in a cold, dark place, (Dezi also tries this sometimes) Just pick him up and place him in a warmer spot. I would be concerned if he starts to keep a puffed black beard, stops eating entirely, or has difficulty walking, etc. Could you post a photo? what is his name?