i do not de-barb my ray.. the reason i dont want her to associate me with pain. i would think it would be the equivalent of me taking pliers and pulling your finger nail out.. most likely after doing this to you a couple times your going to be pissed at the sight of me.
When she naturally sheds her stinger (about twice a year) its important to get those old stingers out of the tank carefully, as they remain venomous. i remove them from the tank carefully with a long pair of hemostats, and drop it in bleach, then air dry them. After they are dry i tape them in sequence on a black insert in a photo album. over time this looks like a growth chart each being slightly longer than the one before.
