Pet store people are
almost always wrong about beardies. A normal spot light from lowes will work as a basking light. We use a Phillips Director 75 watt light bulb mounted in a modified clip lamp. Beardies want
bright white lights during the day. That can't be stressed enough. Bright. They come from the desert. I've said this in just about every post I've put down on this thread as have others but for some reason you still don't have white light in your cage. We're trying to help you and your dragon.
Pet store people are normal every day joes that put in an application for a job in retail. They are not animal experts despite what their stupid little name tag says. (Yeah, at my Petsmart a "Reptile Expert", as her name tag says, keeps her full grown Bearded Dragon in a 20 gallon tank in her bedroom with heat rocks and heat pads.)
An expert (Tracie?
) might want to comment on this but I say get those blue and red lights out asap. I've only ever read about using white lights.
Beardies technically don't have to drink water. They have to take in water but not technically drink it. Some can be taught but most people don't. Misting with a water bottle twice a day and/or
bathing at least 3-5 times a week will give him the water he needs. Especially if he likes veggies but otherwise the other two will do fine. They absorb water through their skin and take it in through their vent (where their feces comes out) when they're getting a
bath.
But yes, live feeders can annoy a dragon and make them irritable and make them not want to eat if left in their habitat. Plus, beardies will sleep deeply at night and a cricket can and will eat at a bearded dragon in it's sleep. And it can be extremely harmful to them because crickets are disease carriers.
All crickets must be out of the cage at night.
And I would be using the Repti-Sun 10 anyway. It's supposed to be the best no matter what. I saw a huge difference in Slevin when we switched to it.