A lower wattage bulb would work well too, but I like to have the higher wattage in case it happens to get colder. The dimmer's effectively make it like a lower wattage one, but have the ability to crank it up if needed. I'm pretty sure my problem was the busted rheostat which was stuck on high I think that really killed the humidity leading to this whole mess.
At any rate I have good news, he seems to have gotten the eye caps off and all the stuck shed. I stuck him in a tub with some water, and threw a wet t-shirt in over top and put the whole thing in his enclosure. Only let it sit for a few minutes due to unrelated reasons, but that seemed to be enough next day he's good as new. Now if only he would eat, but that's a whole other discussion.