I have a baby beardie, Doyle, who is about 4 months old. I know the feeling of eating you out of your pocket book. I purchased dubia roaches. He LOVES them, and I'm hoping to start a colony so I don't have to pay so much for them. They are more nutritious than crickets, don't smell, and can be kept in a bin easily. I also purchased Reptiworms, which are the same thing as Caliworms. I ordered 10,000 online at http://www.reptiworms.com and used the discount code 'facebook20' and had the whole lot shipped for $107.xx which isn't bad. It should last a couple months. I do have a wine cooler to use as storage though since they require specific temps to keep them in.
You can also look into bulk ordering crickets. It's a LOT cheaper.
I use tile in both my beardie's vivs. It doesn't get too cold at all.
Not sure on the tail thing. I haven't had enough experience with that to offer much advice, but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will reply for you.
if he wasnt so young, i would say MBD on the tail...but maybe he just has an itch and is getting ready to shed. have you also checked him for mites?
another good place to buy feeders in bulk is the local reptile expos. i get 1000 supers for 20$ (no tax!), i can get 1000 mealworms for 10$. i can get a ton of dubias, butterworms, silkworms, and hornworms as well for dirt cheap. i can also get 1000 crickets for i think 10$ but i never buy them in bulk. they are too stinky!
also check ebay as they sell bulk feeders and sometimes dont charge shipping.
but any company you order from usually has coupon codes to use. say you are looking for mullberry farms coupons, just google mullberry farms coupon codes and look around. sometimes you really have to dig for them, but they can be highly useful!
Third, the other day I was playing with puff and it started to seem like his tail was having a muscle spasm or something. It bent in all different directions and started thrashing around each time he took the smallest step. then he kinda looked over his shoulder back at his tail like wtf just happened. Anyone ever heard of this?
i have seen males flick there tail when they are in mating mode lol it could be that you got him a little bit to excited and he turned on the charm and started to display to you hand