Quite a bit to unpack here, but I can touch on a couple points.
You should stop the frequent checkups. Constantly messing with him (picking up his hide, touching him, etc) is only stressing him out, and it will most likely make him lash out when you try to interact with him. Lastly, if he's going into shed, stop touching him at all. Make sure the humidity is good and keep the cage closed until he's shed. It mostly sounds to me that touching him as much as you are is becoming counterproductive.
Feeding 7-8 in a month is probably too much, depending on how big he is. Here's a feeding chart thrown around on here:
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