baby bearded dragon eating

Question
Hi, we have a new bearded dragon, purchased from petsmart, they said he is 'vet-assured', anyway they said he is probably 6 weeks old.  We've had him for a week now.  He is in a 42 gallon cage with a 160 watt mercury vapor light.  His basking temp is about 105 degrees, the cool side of the tank is about 80 degrees.  He has a fresh water dish every day and I've seen him sit in it.  at first he was eating about 15 crickets a day, mostly from me hand feeding him, and he eats a lot of dandelion greens, and one day ate a wax worm, and now for two days he will not eat any live food, but still eats lots of dandelion greens.  He is behaving normally, and is on repti-carpet.  Any idea how to get him to eat his crickets for protein?  We tried once to feed him in a separate enclosure but he didn't eat.  His poop is normal, once a day from what I can tell.  Also, I've read different opinions about removing the crickets he doesn't eat.  They are size small crickets, definitely not bigger than the space between his eyes.  Any suggestions?  

Answer
Hi Sam

It sounds like he is settling in well. They often don't start feeding right away in a new environment even with hand feeding. With his normal behaviour and continued eating of dandelions, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. You just have "new parent" syndrome! A few days without insects will not cause any harm. I suspect he might be entering a shed cycle which can alter their appetite temporarily. He sounds well hydrated but you might try soaking him in just a little tepid water anyway. Soaking often triggers a bowel movement with young beardeds and I often found that would re-stimulate their appetite.  

Your set-up sounds great.

The concern about leftover crickets is that they can start nibbling on a sleeping lizard if no other source of food is available. Starving crickets can cause considerable injury to young reptiles in particular. Just make sure there is a small food source for the crickets  in the enclosure. Simply leaving your beardeds greens in there overnight should be sufficient or a small bottle cap of crushed cereal in a corner will also work.