I've been holding this stupid question in, but now I'm choking on it! (Dinker?)

What exactly is a Dinker? I watched a video of a guy explaining it and it seems that he's saying it's not a normal, but it's also not a recognized morph? He showed a snake as an example and he said, "You can see that it looks very different than a normal..." To me it didn't, but I can't tell what's what most of the time anyway.

Is it like the ball python scrap pile? Are Dinkers recognized as their own group, for lack of a better word? As in, there are normals, morphs, and dinkers?

lol not really. dinkers are normals. dinkers are just normals people think look special and hope their "special" look is genetic so they breed them to "dink" around with them. if someone tries to sell you a "dinker" for more than normal price, politely show them the door. ;)

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Originally Posted by creepin

lol not really. dinkers are normals. dinkers are just normals people think look special and hope their "special" look is genetic so they breed them to "dink" around with them. if someone tries to sell you a "dinker" for more than normal price, politely show them the door. ;)

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I'm not looking to buy one. Honestly, I wouldn't even know what a good price is...for ANY of them! When I got mine, I looked at two different pictures and said, "I like that one better, but I'll take either." At that time, I didn't even know what I was looking at or how much they "should" cost. I'm a pet-snake person, that's all.

But it would be fun to be able to say, "I have dinker balls," sometimes.

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Originally Posted by creepin

lol not really. dinkers are normals. dinkers are just normals people think look special and hope their "special" look is genetic so they breed them to "dink" around with them. if someone tries to sell you a "dinker" for more than normal price, politely show them the door. ;)

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Depending on what they look like, dinkers normally tend to sell for a bit more than normals. A lot of the bigger breeders used to sell a lot more dinkers than they do these days. This site has some cool looking dinkers http://www.ms-reptilien.de/index.php..._15_16_774_457

Michael Cole used to sell a lot of really cool dinkers...not sure if he still does though...

they are also called oddballs, and i really do prefer to call them oddballs.

when i heared dinker for the first time i was just as confused, until i figured out that its about oddballs.

These big breeding farms in africa produce ridiculous amounts of ball pythons, but smaller breeders that sort of freelance for the big breeding farms are also involved. And today, anything that looks different than normal gets set aside, in Africa or by the importer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw5ZOH3PN4o
this video is unfortunately in german, but it shows Stefan Broghammer from ms-reptilien.de in Ghana looking through piles of baby BPs for these oddballs / dinkers. At the end he buys 150 BPs that he selected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47fk8AbJ5xI
this one is with subtitles, but shows less BPs :)

A dinker is any ball python that the owner thinks might carry a morph gene, but isn't sure. This does not include "possible het" snakes that have a certain percentage of possibility of carrying a gene. Generally speaking, it's a normal snake, that looks mostly normal but may look slightly odd or different and the owner thinks it may be genetic and wants to breed it to see if it throws any morphs or at least babies that look the same "different" as the parent dinker.

You can pay more for dinkers if you want to give it a go, or you can pass them by and hope that next year the owner isn't showing off the brand new purple and blue morph that he hatched out of them. You're buying a possibility of a morph, and each person has to use their own judgement as to whether it looks like a dinker, a normal, a known morph.. and pay accordingly or pass it up.

It's not wrong to charge more than "market price" for ANY snake, whether it's a dinker, normal, morph or half sasquatch. If the price is too much, people won't buy it. But it's THEIR snake, or YOUR snake, or MY snake and as the owner, you get to say how much cash you would be willing the trade the snake for.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

or half sasquatch.

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Where do I buy one of those?!



Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

Checkout on FB some of the females Outback Reptiles imports. Some of them are definitely dinker worthy imo!

Half ball python, half fire belly toad = soggy ball

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Originally Posted by creepin

lol not really. dinkers are normals. dinkers are just normals people think look special and hope their "special" look is genetic so they breed them to "dink" around with them. if someone tries to sell you a "dinker" for more than normal price, politely show them the door. ;)

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I couldn't disagree with you more....here's a dinker I picked up last year who's "special" look seems to have proven to be a genetic trait, and I'll be seeing more offspring from him this year. I paid a quite a bit more than the price of a normal, but not anything too out there either. Buying "dinkers" is a gamble, and lots of them have real potential, others never prove out. For the amount I paid for this one, I'd be willing to bet it will be more than worth it by time I figure out what's going on with him.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...J/100_1038.jpg

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I couldn't disagree with you more....here's a dinker I picked up last year who's "special" look seems to have proven to be a genetic trait, and I'll be seeing more offspring from him this year. I paid a quite a bit more than the price of a normal, but not anything too out there either. Buying "dinkers" is a gamble, and lots of them have real potential, others never prove out. For the amount I paid for this one, I'd be willing to bet it will be more than worth it by time I figure out what's going on with him.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...J/100_1038.jpg

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imo looks very much like a sable or a chocolate. theres still quite a few balls being imported each year and the more subtle morphs find there way into baby bags all the time.

to OP. Dinkers are fun for breeders and hobby breeders. I see them sort of the reptile worlds version of the back yard mechanic rebuilding that classic car. the owner poors tons of time working on them and most of the time the final product isnt worth near the amount that we put in. but every now and again you strike pay dirt and end up with the coolest thing on the block and everyone wants it reguardless of the cost. if you want to check out some cool looking dinkers and some dinkers that ended up making the morph list check out major league reptiles. I think the latest thing hes got going on is the arryo? aka het rio. pretty cool for an import imo.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I couldn't disagree with you more....here's a dinker I picked up last year who's "special" look seems to have proven to be a genetic trait, and I'll be seeing more offspring from him this year. I paid a quite a bit more than the price of a normal, but not anything too out there either. Buying "dinkers" is a gamble, and lots of them have real potential, others never prove out. For the amount I paid for this one, I'd be willing to bet it will be more than worth it by time I figure out what's going on with him.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...J/100_1038.jpg

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There's something I'm not seeing there, right?
I don't really have a sharp eye for ball pythons, albeit simply because I simply lack the skill, not that I'm dumb and don't care. All I know is that my ball might be an oddball with that stripe that runs down at least half his back; that's about it. Care to clarify that pic for me? :)

Dinkers are a gamble...a gamble I've lost twice now...both of these girls produced very nice babies but nothing new...:rage:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...0/lucinew1.jpg


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sho220/gyp3.jpg

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Originally Posted by sho220

Dinkers are a gamble...a gamble I've lost twice now...both of these girls produced very nice babies but nothing new...:rage:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...0/lucinew1.jpg


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sho220/gyp3.jpg

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I'd keep gambling on that first one, Doug. she's the quintessence of a dinker.

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Originally Posted by wwmjkd

I'd keep gambling on that first one, Doug. she's the quintessence of a dinker.

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^^^ I second that!

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Originally Posted by pythonminion

There's something I'm not seeing there, right?
I don't really have a sharp eye for ball pythons, albeit simply because I simply lack the skill, not that I'm dumb and don't care. All I know is that my ball might be an oddball with that stripe that runs down at least half his back; that's about it. Care to clarify that pic for me? :)

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take a closer look. its got granite like flecking down the sides but inside of the alien heads. dark rich color with chocolate like blushing. thats jmo. i'd take a gamble on that. i'm sure thats not the greatest pic of it also. anywho thats what i see. the owner may see something else. dinker is all in the eye of the owner. lol

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Originally Posted by wwmjkd

I'd keep gambling on that first one, Doug. she's the quintessence of a dinker.

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Sold her off a few years ago. I probably should have given her another shot. Oh well. I really regret selling off the second girl there. She's still one of the best looking normals I've ever seen. :rage:

Man that second girl could pass for a fire most any day of the week. It would be amazing to see what she produces if she's bred to the right morphs.

I have a couple of girls I consider dinkers. One is really light and bright, she made me some amazing vanillas. The other has tons of blushing and a real melty pattern and she made some really sweet fires for me.

Basically, a "dinker" is any snake that has a really unique look to them according to what the buyer is used to seeing, and some people pay a premium price for what they feel is something out of the ordinary on the chance it might prove to be genetic. Most don't prove out naturally, some apparently prove out but the supposed morph they produce doesn't look like anything special to me, and a very rare few actually DO make something cool or never before seen.

It's up to the individual person to decide when looking at an animal if they feel it is worth buying, growing up, breeding and determining if the offspring look enough like the odd parent to merit holding them back and breeding them back to see if it produces something really wild.

Gale

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Originally Posted by pythonminion

There's something I'm not seeing there, right?
Care to clarify that pic for me? :)

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The overall coloration, granite-like speckling, the flames, blushing, the dot behind the head, back striping...

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

imo looks very much like a sable or a chocolate. theres still quite a few balls being imported each year and the more subtle morphs find there way into baby bags all the time.

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I really doubt it's chocolate, and sable is one thing I've been thinking, but then the offspring didn't come out as I would have expected...the male bred to a het red axanthic, 4 eggs, 1 normal(I think), 1 HRA, 1 definitely not normal and not really sable looking(IMO), and 1 neat enough to hang on to. Here are pics of the 1 obvious and the other one I kept from the clutch that was cool enough to keep(I still have the HRA, but it's just an HRA).

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4ed325b2.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2f549715.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...psaa9b8988.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9239f302.jpg

There are enough similarities between the two that I think the second one pictured may just be a much less exaggerated version of the first one pictured.

Thanks everyone! I think I understand what the term means now. I'll be honest though, I still don't see where the pictures posted look unusual. Hopefully after I've been at it long enough and look at enough snakes, I'll eventually be able to hone in on what makes one different than the other when they're basically the same color :)

Interesting thread here on BP.net with a fun picture from facebook that comes to mind every time I hear the word "dinker".

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...71291-Dinkers-!!!