Whew, home from work. Thank you all so much for the responses. To add a few more details, I should have mentioned his hot spot is consistent, it was the ambient temps that I adjust. And I honestly thought they should have been in the high 80s approaching 90, I can correct that easily. Ill look into grabbing a ceramic heat emitter after work tomorrow, I switched to the red lamp originally because it provided more heat than the blacklight I was using and I was trying to combat the dropping temperatures outside and in the house. I have him against an interior wall now and that's made a huge difference in keeping the temps up.
For the hides.. I imagine that if I ever grow to a large collection and even as he grows I may need to consider something more economical, but would having two more decorative/naturalistic looking hides be okay if they were identical? He has an active period for maybe an hour or so every night when I switch his light off and he climbs around a bit and the tree hide accomodates that nicely (and that does seem like his favorite, I've been experimenting with different layouts to figure out what's best for him). Given that his enclosure is large for his size do you think the additional log hide is necessary? He generally seems very relaxed but I wasn't sure if giving him a tunnel between the two hides would help him feel safer in his home.
And I actually have seen multiple guides that say that a young ball should be shedding every month... comforting to know that what I'm experiencing is normal.
I really appreciate all the advice and assistance, it's comforting to know not only that what I'm experiencing is normal but knowing there's such a helpful community of knowledgable people I can come to if it's ever needed. :)