Ok, so you Tinker with something in an attempt to fix or repair it.
How exactly can you "fix or repair" a ball python ? They aren't broken, so there is nothing to fix.
On the other hand, dinking with something carries the thought of fooling with something for the sake of fooling with it. It doesn't need to be broken, it just needs to be fiddled around with! This to me just seems more .... what we are doing. We are fooling around with an interesting looking snake to see if anything comes of it.
I mean, I suppose you could look at is as a form of tinkering. After all your hope is to "fix" or reproduce the look of said animal. But to me that just sounds odd. Maybe I've just been too assimilated into the ball python world and that is why dinker doesn't sound strange. :P
Gale