Dinker finally getting serious with breeding! Input requested.

[snowgyre]

I bought this really dark, unusual male as a captive hatched animal three years ago. He's been a real finicky eater and a slow grower. I tried breeding him last year, but he only locked with one female and then seemed to give up. This year he's already locked three times with my female mojave, so I've got high hopes to finally get some babies!

I'm thinking he might be in the blue-eyed leucistic complex, maybe a new line of phantom or mystic? Anybody have any ideas? I'm only breeding him to a female mojave this year, mainly so I'm not overrun with babies I need to hold back in case he turns out to be recessive.

 

[Dbz4246]

I'm only breeding him to a female mojave this year, mainly so I'm not overrun with babies I need to hold back in case he turns out to be recessive.

Good plan? Great plan!

Mojave looks to be a good way to go, I would also use a darker morph like Cinnie, possibly black pastel.

 

[ClarkT]

He looks a lot like a mystic. Great choice with the mojave.

 

[snowgyre]

Thanks guys!

Jessie, I was thinking about the black pastel option too. Another buddy of mine even suggested he might be in the yellowbelly complex. I do have a cinnamon female but I think I'm going to give her a break this year. I still have a lot of 2014s I need to sell, and I want to keep production low this year (I've actually only got two pairings planned for this year, and both are dinker projects). Figure I'll give her this year off and then, depending upon what happens with this clutch, I may pair him to her next year. I don't currently have a yellowbelly female I can put him to.

Clark, thanks! That was my thinking too. He's actually gotten darker as he aged.

 

[snowgyre]

Some good news! Just got five good eggs from this pairing on Friday last week. They're due to hatch in the beginning of June. I decided not to pair him to my female cinnamon 100% het orange ghost for now. If something interesting comes out of this mojave pairing I might pair him with the cinnamon next year.

 

[Dbz4246]

Thats awesome Congrats! Really hope you get good odds. All my dinkers aren't gonna be ready for at least another year if not longer.

 

[Pasodama]

Congrats on the eggs!
Will be interesting to see what you get out of them.

 

[niki.penta]

Congrats! My mojave girl has a similar "coat hanger" shape on her back, like your male.

Good luck with your clutch!

 

[snowgyre]

Hi Niki, welcome to Fauna! I noticed it was your first post. Consider me honored that you gave me your first Fauna post!

That is a very pretty mojave you've got there! I see she's got a couple of neat j-hooks going on. Thank you for wishing me good luck with my clutch too. The male was a really slow grower, but I'm a hobbyist so I don't mind waiting. He's actually three years old and only 600 grams. He refuses to eat anything other than live mice and goes off feed fairly regularly. Frustrating to say the least! But at least now I'll get some nice captive bred babies from him. I've got three captive hatched animals in my collection (all dinkers) and they're all a bit wishy washy about feeding.

 

[Helen Lampinen]

I have this female dinker. I'm sure she'll prove out too.

I got a girl from Major League Reptiles. She looks just like yours!

 

[snowgyre]

That's a nice female, Helen! Was she hatched in 2013?

Today is day 53 on the eggs. All are looking great and are starting to deflate. I candled them on Friday an all embryos are moving. I incubate at 88.5 degrees so most of my eggs don't pip until day 60-63 or so. The wait is a killer! I'll probably pip them on June 1st.

 

[Helen Lampinen]

That's so awesome!!

I can't wait to see what comes out! I just know there's going to be some super cool babies in there. I agree with the other poster, very wise of you to put him with a mojave. I was also thinking of breeding mine to my mojave het pied male. I'm going to pm you so look for it!

 

[snowgyre]

Well, I didn't get exactly what I was expecting. I got one mojave and four normals. Only three babies have left the egg so far. The mojave is male, the two normals out so far are female.

So now I'm left with a few possibilities:
1. The male is a phantom/mystic and I just got terrible odds with no visuals in this clutch.
2. The male is either a subtle codominant or a recessive trait.
3. The male's pattern is nongenetic.

I do plan on holding these snakes back to breed back to Dad in three years or so to rule out #2. They're called dinker projects for a reason, but I'm honestly very surprised I didn't get something that looked like him in this clutch. He really looks like he's in the BEL complex.

 

[ClarkT]

Hmm.... Tough one..
Try with a Cinny

 

[snowgyre]

The whole clutch is finally out. They're not bad looking babies, just not what I was expecting. My sex ratio is pretty good though; all four normals are female, only the mojave is male. At least I'll be able to breed the girls back to dad in a few years and hopefully prove the trait out.

 

[snowgyre]

Here are some updated photos. Now I'm starting to wonder if I misread this male... two of his daughters (the ones on the bottom) look an awful lot like specters. I'm holding the entire clutch back (the mojave is male, the rest are female), so I'll breed him back to his daughters in a couple of years and see what pops out.

 

[David Reid]

In the pic with the three as adults, my Tangerine looks like the bottom left. I like em.

Dave

 

[phoenix-cry]

I really like the one on the bottom right of the top pic

 

[NIGRO51]

bottom left in both pics has an awesome dot shaped like a heart

 

[Dro B]

I don't think this will be proven out as anything already on the market, too different and too dark, I'll be following this one good luck.