New to this site and an newbie with bearded dragons

[Chlobear]

Hey guys. I'm new here and new with caring for a bearded dragon. I went into petsmart​ for heat bulbs for my snakes and I left with a bearded dragon. Its about 5 inches long and it's supper cute. It's name is pineapple Express. Not sure of the sex or age of him. The store told me to only be feeding him 7 crickets a day and from my research this is no where near enough. Also how long should I wait untell I start handling him? And how much is to much handling?
If someone would be able to give me tips and more in-depth care for a beardie that would be amazing. I did do research before getting pineapple I've been talking with my boyfriend about getting a beardie for about a year and desided to take the plunge and be a total surprise to him lol .I just dont want to screw up anything up with pineapples health.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

7 crickets is way to little, for his age, which i'd think is probably only a month at least he needs to be eating three times a day with as much as he or she wants in 10-15 minutes or so. Or just 10-15 crickets each feeding. The tank looks a bit small in the photo, and if its a 10 gallon you'll need to get a 20 gallon as 10 gallons do not provide enough room for even baby beardies.
Can you tell me what your using to monitor temps, what the uvb light is, what the temps are, if your using a nighttime heat source and any other lighting or heating.

 

[Chlobear]

7 crickets is way to little, for his age, which i'd think is probably only a month at least he needs to be eating three times a day with as much as he or she wants in 10-15 minutes or so. Or just 10-15 crickets each feeding. The tank looks a bit small in the photo, and if its a 10 gallon you'll need to get a 20 gallon as 10 gallons do not provide enough room for even baby beardies.
Can you tell me what your using to monitor temps, what the uvb light is, what the temps are, if your using a nighttime heat source and any other lighting or heating.

Hey thank you for letting me know that's what I've been feeding him or her and it seems to eat them all in about 15 mins. Thank you for letting me know that was to small. I have so many tanks so I can easily switch him into a 20 gal tomorrow in the morning or when ever it would be safe to switch him to a new environment. I'm using a electric temp and humidity monitor. I got a 75 watt bulb currently ( both day and night bulbs are both 75 watts) and I have a bandana covering a part of the sceen in top to help keep the heat in my room also on the warmer side since I already have three snakes in my room. I've been keeping an eye on the heat like a hawk. I check on it a couple times an hour when im awake and home. The tanks low 80s at night and during the day it's high 80s low 90s with a hot spot of high 90s. His or her humidy is staying between 20%-30% I also have a couple under the tank pads but they are not on the tank he or she is in currently.

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Does the night time bulb produce any light? If so i'd turn it off and put it away as it can keep them awake at night and they prefer to be at lower temperatures to sleep in anyway. No lower than 65. You'll want to get the basking spot up to 95-105 no higher than 110.
What uvb are you currently using?

Just to add for a feeding schedule i came up with for my own beardies according to their age and everything. Usually 1-4 months of age they eat 3 times a day, 4-12 months twice a day, 12-20 months once a day and 20+ months three to two times a week. For the insect portion like crickets, dubia roaches and or calciworms. I'd offer some greens from a young age so they get used to it once they are eating it basically 24/7. Things like collard greens, turnip greens and mustard greens can be used daily.

Also are you using any supplements if so can you post picture of them?

 

[Chlobear]

Does the night time bulb produce any light? If so i'd turn it off and put it away as it can keep them awake at night and they prefer to be at lower temperatures to sleep in anyway. No lower than 65. You'll want to get the basking spot up to 95-105 no higher than 110.
What uvb are you currently using?

Just to add for a feeding schedule i came up with for my own beardies according to their age and everything. Usually 1-4 months of age they eat 3 times a day, 4-12 months twice a day, 12-20 months once a day and 20+ months three to two times a week. For the insect portion like crickets, dubia roaches and or calciworms. I'd offer some greens from a young age so they get used to it once they are eating it basically 24/7. Things like collard greens, turnip greens and mustard greens can be used daily.

Also are you using any supplements if so can you post picture of them?

I can't figure out how to post a picture again or else I would lol. It's like a black light you can kinda see the glow of it in the picture I posted of pineapple I just had my lamp on next to the cage eariler when I took the picture. I've been feeding collard greens and crickets. I've been tossing calcium with vitamin D3 on the crickets when I've been giving Pineapple them. I've been feeding live I also got some freeze dried ones I've gave him one and cut it up and he gobbled it up right away. I've only had him for 3 days now. I also got the bulb from a friend so I don't know the brand of bulb it is. My room stays about 70-73 ish at night that's not to cold for it ?

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

70-73 is a completely fine temperature. As long as it doesnt drop below 65 it'll be completely fine.
You can post pics by going here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and then hitting "XIMG" when you go to post to select it.
They prefer being colder at night anyway so i'd just ditch the nighttime heat source.
As for the freeze dried crickets i'd only keep them around for if you run out of crickets and cant get them, or just entirely ditch them as well since they dont really have anything good in them. Also for insects you could offer dubia roaches, calciworms, hornworms and turkish/red runner roaches as well. Never offer mealworms or superworms unless for a treat and their above the age of 6+ months. And only 2-4 at most.

As for the supplements i'd get a calcium supplement that doesnt have any D3 in it and Multivitamins with no d3. Too much D3 can cause an overdose eventually. I prefer using repti-cal but there are some other good brands out there as well.
Usually for dusting you want to dust 5 times a week with calcium and 2 times a week with multivitamins.
I use calcium without d3 3 times during the week and calcium with d3 two times during the week and multivitamins without d3 on weekends. Usually only one feeding of insects need to be dusted.

Also usually the brand, type and everything is on the uvb bulb.