well I am on my 2nd 5 pound bag of the dry food. I will try some squash or something. When I first got it, it was mean and sketchy. I have left it alone for about 3-5 months before I actually started taking him out besides for cage cleaning. Now at a year its very tame and doesn't mind being out of the cage or being held. On this new cage I built I dont have any substrate, the whole inside is coated with urathane so I can just wash it out with soap and water. With a bath soak every 3 days I havent noticed any hard sheads or dehydration due to no substrate. I am thinking about putting some mulch in there for winter comming though.