New dragon owner: Everything makes me anxious.

[vamoose]

I have so many questions about my new dragon, Beelzebub. I got him two days ago, and he has done a lot of weird stuff within that time that I have never read about, so I wasn't prepared.
First of all, he started shedding right away. So I guess that's why his eyes bulge out, right? Is that also the reason he keeps opening his mouth, sticking out his tongue, and staring off in the distance? He also keeps wiggling around and swallowing a lot. Is he trying to loosen his skin?
He is also hardly eating. And I have no idea how much to feed him because so many people have different ideas. I got him from a pet store so I think he's 2-3 months old. Lady at the shop said to give him 4 crickets in the morning and 4 at night, but online people say 15 crickets three times a day? What do I serve him? Yesterday I gave him 5 in the morning, 5 at night, and 4 meal worms out of my hand midday. Today he would only eat 3 crickets, one of which was dead because he wouldn't run after them.
Another thing is, the first night he didn't sleep at all. Last night he went into his hiding spot and was out cold for 10 hours, and when I switched on the light he wouldn't wake up. It had been 12 hours since he ate so I was trying to feed him. I lifted his hiding spot up and he looked dead. His one arm was clinging to the wall, but he really looked dead. His hidey thing is heavy so I had no hands to try to lift him off, and I couldn't set it down so I waved softly side to side to get him off. I didn't see how but he got off and looked fine. Is he going to do this all the time? I read something about brumation, which is like hibernation. Since it's almost winter, is he trying to brumate? What do I do?
Last thing, I know isn't a behavioral question, but I think I need to have all of this together. A dragon's tank should be 100-110°F in the basking area, 75-85°F in the cooler area, and 65-75°F overall at night. None of this matches up to his tank; the thermometer in the hotter area reads 93°, and the one in the cooler area reads 73°. At night it says 75 for hot and 68 for cold. He has two heating lamps, one is 100w and directly above the basking spot, the other is 150w and an inch away from the other lamp. His UVB lamp is on top of the middle of the vivarium. What am I doing wrong here?
-He has a 40 gallon tank
-It's next to a window (sun never shines through it though)
-Mornings where I live are about 35°F.
Please help, I'm lost and confused.

 

[AHBD]

It's normal to be nervous with a new pet, especially a wee little reptile. Can you post pics of him + his entire set up using this info ?
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/
So far his behavior sounds normal.....you will be much better off eliminating mealworms, they can cause impaction and also your beardie may snub the crickets in favor of them. You may not be getting the real temps. with a stick on thermometer, your bulbs should be bringing a higher temp. than what you're getting.

As for seeming " dead", they can really conk out while sleeping, and will sleep in crazy positions, including straight up against the wall of the tank. Babies don't brumate by the way.

 

[vamoose]

This is the set up and the dragon. As you can see he shedding tons! I didn't expect him to start shedding right away but okay, cool. Also what should I give him for treats instead of meal worms?

 

[Toddzilla1108]

Silkworms are nice treats for a beardie. Staple-wise, Repti/Phoenix/Calci worms (all the same) or dubia roaches are the best (may be a little bit more expensive)

What brand UVB light do you have? Most would recommend a Reptisun 10.0 tube light for UVB.

What are you using to measure temps? An infrared temp gun is the most accurate. A probe thermometer would work too (put the probe on the basking spot). Wall-mounted thermometers can under-measure temps by quite a bit.

I know I have a 90 watt GE halogen floodlight for my heat source, and it's dimmed to ~75% which seems to get me at the correct temps (hoping my method of measuring and temp gun are accurate). I also have a 40 gallon breeder. I feel like both a 150 and 100 watt may be overdoing the heat.

If the tank gets below 65 you may want to add a ceramic heat emitter (non-light emitting heat source) if her tank gets too cool at night.