With the C. chamaeleons I had 95% hatch rate of fertile eggs and about a 90% survival rate at 6 months of age. They showed similar signs of impending death to what you mentioned FFSTRescue.
With veileds I have had 100% hatch rate over many years and about 95% survival rate at about 3 months (when they would leave my care). Babies that I held back all lived.
With other species I have had various results....but don't forget that I have dealt a lot with WC's and it depends somewhat on the condition of the adults when I got them in.
I lost one whole clutch of Deremensis and never did find out why...but the tops of the heads would change to an odd color and each time it happened the baby would die the next day. They were hatched a little early and I don't know if that was part of the problem or if they had something wrong with them since the parents were recent imports (mated in captivity, etc....but hadn't been with me long before the mating).
How are you keeping the babies? Temperature, etc.
How old were the Deremensis when they died?
I have been testing the Senegal hatchlings, and observing them and going off of basic animal behavior to determine if they are comfortable or not, so I started keeping them at about 80 basking, 75 ambient, 70 night temp, but they weren't very active, didn't seem very alert, and I lost three doing that. Then I have been slowly increasing the temp (I have alot of land and a large area around my house that has various microclimates, and the temp varies greatly depending on where I place them and I just use a temp gun). So I changed to 85 the next day basking, 80 ambient, 65 at night. Then the die-off declined, but there was still some mortality. So I didn't know if the increased basking temps or the cooler night temps helped. They still seemed lethargic and not as alert as they should be, but better than before. I have been keeping them cooler than I would adults because from what I have learned, babies should always be kept cooler than the adults, but with Senegals, I think that might be wrong. So then over the past couple of days, I had them in direct sun (though they would seek shaded areas in their cage to thermoregulate if needed), and they seemed much more alert, none were lethargic, they were all eating, and I haven't lost any since then, but I will let you know more tomorrow. They would go back and forth from shade under the leaves into the sun, did not show any signs of discomfort. The temperatures then were 90 basking, 82/83 in the shade, and 65 at night. At one point, I got busy and didn't monitor the temps for about an hour (I have no life right now, I took a month off work and I spend all day trying to determine what will work best for their vitality since there is no one that really has been too successful and I want to know what will work) so during that hour, it got up to about 95. I panicked and quickly went out there when I realized that it got so hot and when I checked on them, they were active, some were out basking, some were hiding under the leaves, but they seemed fine. After that happened, that was the first night that I didn't lose one or have a sickly looking one the next day. I think these little guys may thrive under heat just like their elders. I am going to stick with the 90 basking, 82 +/- ambient (shade) and 65 at night and see if the success continues with that. I spray them about every 3 hours with a very fine mist. I will spray them for about 15 minutes in the morning, but since they are babies and I don't know how well this species does with water, I spray a little, let them dry a bit, spray them again, etc. I'm afraid they will aspirate if I spray too much for too long. And the water definitely has to be warm. I used colder water to cool them down after they were outside in 95 degrees, and it just stressed them out and they didn't drink. So I keep the water in the sun by their cage and use that temp for them. So far so good, we'll see how things go.
The sternfeldi I am keeping at about 75 during the day in the shade, and 58-60 at night. I do have to bring them inside, where it is about 72, if it gets above 80, but I always make sure it is 60 degrees or lower at night for them as that has been linked to more success than higher night temps.
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. Is is so heartbreaking to find them dead.
Any updates on how the warmer method has been working?
