Do you also have an approximate length? I would not feed hornworms to him unless he is about 14-15 inches long from tip of tail to tip of nose. Mine choked on a hornworm when he was smaller than that.
Phoenix worms are a great source of worm to use for them. You can sink a spoonful of them into a bowl and let the substrate fall and the phoenix worms will float to the top. Then you can feed them to him in a shallow bowl.
Tiles work well for substrate, as long as you clean them with a disinfectant okay for dragons. But no need for loose substrate at all. Once you purchase tiles, that's it. No need to purchase anything else, except for a nontoxic antibacterial spray for cleaning it. Or you can take them out when they have poop on them, and wash them with bleach/water solution and let them dry outside the tank.
Meal worms will constipate them, as you heard, because of the hard shells on them. and wax worms are very fatty, so long term wax worms can mess up their organs.
You don't need to dust soft worms, like phoenix worms, horn worms, or butter worms. And all of them are
hydrating for dragons. But you do need to dust crickets.
Depending on his length, you will need to get small, medium or large crickets. Keep the crickets in a cricket bin and feed them cricket chow and water crystals, not straight water, because they will drown in water and do not like humidity. You can get a cricket bin that allows them to travel up into black tubes (if you are a novice cricket master like me) and then dump out as many as you need from the tubes. You can also feed them green cubes which contain gut load as well as water. And I feed mine sliced apple for the added
hydration/nutrition. They will last about a week if they are large crickets, and a bit longer if they are small/medium crickets.
As for baths, fill the tub to his shoulders with warm water, warmer than cool and not as warm as steam coming off. He might squirm around at first, and might show that he does not like it, but dragons need baths for
hydration, as they rarely drink any water in their terrariums. Put a folded washcloth in the tub with him, and let his front legs stand on it. If he moves off the washrag, put him back on it. At some point, he might get fidgety and move around, that might be because he wants out or it might be because he has to poop. If he poops, let him finish then drain the water out all the way, and add more, just to make sure he is cleaned off. Ideally, he should be in the tub for about 10-15 minutes which could seem like forever when you are on your knees tending to him in the tub.
I
bathe mine in a bathtub that we don't use as people (We share the shower and a second tub for soaking). Just to give you an idea, when it's a big tub, he loves it, and eventually falls asleep in the tub unless he has to poop. But in a sink he squirms and tries to jump out. It's like he has two different personalities, and you would NEVER know how much he likes a
bath if you saw him in a shallow, enclosed area like a sink. He likes to walk around till he is settled in, and the bathtub is the best place for him to do that. If you don't have a spare bathtub in the house, you can get a large tote from walmart/Target, and fill it with water to his shoulders, but you will have to make sure you empty it clean and refill it if he poops which can be much more difficult than just opening the drain. I would, at this point, give him a
bath every day/night till you know he has pooped, then go to once a week.
Also, try using fresh greens instead of the frozen ones you have in the bag. They are a little more work, but more appealing. I would save the frozen ones for times when you don't have fresh available. You can rinse the greens in cold water and drain them prior to putting them in his bowl and then his tank, which also adds to
hydration so he can poop later. Some good, fresh greens are collard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens. You can buy them in different grocery stores (might need to ask where you can find them in your store), and I piece apart a handful of each and put them into a baggie, that I use for about 3 days, then dig in for more. I also use different other veggies to sprinkle on top. Usually it's butternut squash or spaghetti squash. You can purchase one in the store, and cut in to it, on the small piece you have, cut off and discard the outer shell, and any seeds, then shave it off finely with a paring knife on top of the greens. One squash will sit nicely (even when cut into) on your kitchen countertop for 1-2 weeks as you cut in to it daily. You can also use dandelion flowers, shaved carrot peels, or finely torn rose petals as long as you know they are from your own yard with no pesticides on them. Try to stay away from iceberg lettuce, spinach, or kale, as spinach and kale bind to calcium and cause problems absorbing calcium, and iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value.
