Proving out Dinkers. I need more information!

[nikkubus]

Almost missed this one because of the section it's in.

I'm going to give advice that applies to anyone thinking about this, but this is not something I would attempt at the stage you are at as a first time breeder, absolutely forget about doing it right now and use the following as why not to.

Erie_Herps has good advice. To add to that, imports add on a whole extra layer of complexity with having to deal with more likely parasites and hatchlings that are not well started and go through a more extreme trip and not always the most gentle humans. If you don't have solid experience with dealing with parasites, getting hatchlings to eat, and breeding as it is, this is not a project I would take on. HUGE time and money sink, high risk, low chance for success. I'm saying this as someone who has some and has dumped a load of time and money in myself, not just on one Dinker import, but several, and there were casualties because of African parasites. "Farm Raised" or "Captive Hatch" direct from Africa, or through a person who is flipping them fresh after receiving them is nowhere near the same thing as Captive Born and Bred. Be prepared to get testing done at the vets, and absolutely MUST quarantine from your existing collection even more so than a normal purchase.

If you don't already have a very established name as a breeder, the next thing you are going to need is a wholesaler you can offload normals to because they are not going to sell for you and you are going to produce A LOT trying to prove something out that you have no idea about. Plan on basically giving them away because the prices wholesalers give for normals is very low and barely covers shipping to them. If this is at all an ethical concern for you, this is not the project for you, turn back now.

If I haven't said enough to scare you away from wanting to do this, the advice Erie_Herps gives is perfect for how to go about figuring out the genetics unless it's something that involves multiple genes or linkage. It will cover 99% of situations where it's incomplete dominant or recessive. Anything else is going to be a complex subject of it's own that is beyond the scope of attempting without an advanced understanding of genetics.

I'm not trying to say nobody should ever try to prove out dinkers, if they pop up in your lines, that's a much easier thing to deal with than imports because you don't have the same problems with disease and stress, but you still are going to produce a lot of normals that need to find homes. If you are going to do it, having a realistic idea of the challenges you face will make it a lot less painful is all.