is there a way for me to save my text messages to the cloud

If you sync to your mac, you can open the message, then select file/print and save as pdf. You can put that anywhere. If there is a lot, you must scroll up so the entire part you want printed can be seen.

Not really, no. If you do NOT use messages in iCloud, you can make a full backup of your device to the cloud or backup to your computer.