He doesn't avoid the basking spot anymore, but he basks at other spots as well. Most of the time though I would say that he basks on the rock. The recommended distance of the bulb is 12 inches and that's where I put it, but there are other spots in the enclosure with further distances. I noticed that the corner spot is his sleeping spot, every night before I turn the lights off he goes there and closes his eyes, during the day he stays away from it.That’s ok don’t worry about him being small my dragon was the runt to and now he’s huge! If you want to hedge your bet on making him grow try feeding him 2/3 times a day. 97 is fine for your basking area and I’ve used MVB’s for years there good bulbs just make sure you follow distance recommendations for your 160 watt bulb most I’ve seen need about 18 inches up from the basking surface. If he continues to avoid the basking area it’s a pretty good indicator of too high of Uvb and you may want to raise it up higher and add a second fixture and run a normal incandescent bulb right next to the MVB to boost temperatures up to the 95-100 range.
Please start w/ salads now- the older he gets the less likely he will eat- dragons grow at their own rate but you want him eating a balanced diet - staple insect salads and worms- and yes 97 is good for temp
Do you have any good advice or reference on how I can do this? I watched already some videos but when I tried I had no success getting him even a little interested in the salad.