TrpnBils
22 is not enough snakes
I've been sitting here at my computer laughing all morning because I can't believe the reaction that the dark ones have gotten... I always assumed they would be the "(dark) redheaded stepchild" of the chondro clutches because people tended to gravitate towards the bright red ones.
Anyway, the look pretty much the same, but the reds have the potential to keep or develop black pigment as they age, resulting in "mite phase" adults. I don't know that yellows can't also do this, but I've never seen it even mentioned with that color. What we're hoping for from this clutch is to have the dark ones keep some of that. We have two mite phase ones that are direct siblings to these guys (see http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/jrh312/Captive Herps/ - 2nd page) which both started out super dark like that too. The lighter red ones just turn bright green.
Other than that, there's a difference in pattern too... the yellows have "spokes" along the dorsal stripe that they sometimes keep as a blue line into adulthood, but the reds tend to have triangles along the dorsal line. Because of this, you can sometimes look at an adult chondro and tell what it was as a hatchling (which isn't always easy because the red ones still develop yellow on their chins, bellies as adults).
As far as I know there's no reason why we get certain colors... although certain localities are known for only producing yellows while others will make a mix. We generally get a 50/50 mix of reds and yellows, but I want to do some breeding trials over the next several generations to see if we can produce straight red or straight yellow clutches. I don't know if that's possible, but I'd like to try!
