This began as a reply to a de-barbing thread but as usual i started rambling on and on.. lol so here goes.
i do not de-barb my ray.. the reason i don't 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 net, sticks right to the net when sifting,they are super sharp on all edges. Next I 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.
as for being stung, i think it has allot to do with the ray and the person, much like a dog, some are more tolerant than others, some are more aggressive than others. i have made many stupid mistakes over the years with mine, she has given me "dirty looks" but she has never even whipped her tail at ME,or shown any sign of aggression, but has with other people just looking at her, or even simply walking into the room where she is. when people see me interacting with the ray and ask if they can do the same, the standard reply is "i don't advise it. Would you walk up to a dog off the street grab it up and play with it?" The rays you play with at Ripley's are unarmed, this one is not.
in my experience, their behavior is very interesting to say the least, much like a dog, very smart and affectionate, example she will demand attention from me. if i don't play with her, she will "slap" the surface of the water.. if i ignore her next she will splash me, if i ignore that, next she will shoot water from her jets at me. After playing with her all is fine and happy in the world. She is not begging for food, as she has a constant supply of feeders to hunt at will. also i have experimented with her over the years, i can say for sure its not a food response. I have also noticed that some species tend to be more aggressive than others.
Interaction with my wife: is odd when the ray is in "season" (female area becomes slightly red and swollen), during this time the ray becomes very jealous of my wife's interaction with me, and shows signs of aggression towards wife. this is what usually happens, if wife shows me any affection within sight of ray, the ray will begin backing into a corner whipping tail and charging out of corner towards wife, spraying wife with water. when wife stops and moves away from me, the ray goes back to normal. My wife cannot feed or interact with her what so ever during this time, for her own safety. any other time she is fine with her allowing wife to feed and play with her, and no response with wife showing me affection.
Interaction with other pets: i know this sounds crazy but i have even noticed interaction and some form of communication between my chihuahua and sting ray.. example the chihuahua will jump on the arm of the sofa paw the tank.. the ray will approach the dog and act is if it is wanting to play with the dog, and the dog becomes playful toward the ray. however, when the ray is hunting / stalking live prey, the dog becomes frightened and will run away from the tank and hide, or run to me frightened, and begin shaking, as it is usually at night with a dark room, the dog does not even have to be viewing the tank.. just nearby. the dog shows no reaction, when my large Oscars are feeding / hunting live feeders making allot of noise in another tank in same room, only with the ray..so tell me how the dog knows when the ray is stalking...........
Intelligence: they are very smart, try this sometime... take a shrimp and place inside a hole in a rock or clear tube.. watch the ray stop, think and use trial and error process to retrieve the food.. for some reason people seriously under estimate the intelligence of animals..
She is a FW Atlantic approx 3 years old, that i have owned for 2 and a half years. It is unknown if she was a wild capture, although i tend to think so. When i began thinking of buying her, i went to the lfs daily to feed her for 2 months, i had agreed to buy her and they agreed not to allow any one else to interact with her during this time. She started becoming excited when she would see me walk in to the store, next she began allowing me to play with her. When i felt it was time to take her home i was able to reach in to her tank and pick her up by hand and place her in to the bin i had prepared. She became excited when she saw the bin wheeled next to her tank, after filling the bin with water from her tank, i placed my hands in the tank she swam in to them and rested. the lfs had her de-barbed at the time, she was there, so risk was low.
i am no expert by far simply my observations with my pets......
i do not de-barb my ray.. the reason i don't 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 net, sticks right to the net when sifting,they are super sharp on all edges. Next I 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.
as for being stung, i think it has allot to do with the ray and the person, much like a dog, some are more tolerant than others, some are more aggressive than others. i have made many stupid mistakes over the years with mine, she has given me "dirty looks" but she has never even whipped her tail at ME,or shown any sign of aggression, but has with other people just looking at her, or even simply walking into the room where she is. when people see me interacting with the ray and ask if they can do the same, the standard reply is "i don't advise it. Would you walk up to a dog off the street grab it up and play with it?" The rays you play with at Ripley's are unarmed, this one is not.
in my experience, their behavior is very interesting to say the least, much like a dog, very smart and affectionate, example she will demand attention from me. if i don't play with her, she will "slap" the surface of the water.. if i ignore her next she will splash me, if i ignore that, next she will shoot water from her jets at me. After playing with her all is fine and happy in the world. She is not begging for food, as she has a constant supply of feeders to hunt at will. also i have experimented with her over the years, i can say for sure its not a food response. I have also noticed that some species tend to be more aggressive than others.
Interaction with my wife: is odd when the ray is in "season" (female area becomes slightly red and swollen), during this time the ray becomes very jealous of my wife's interaction with me, and shows signs of aggression towards wife. this is what usually happens, if wife shows me any affection within sight of ray, the ray will begin backing into a corner whipping tail and charging out of corner towards wife, spraying wife with water. when wife stops and moves away from me, the ray goes back to normal. My wife cannot feed or interact with her what so ever during this time, for her own safety. any other time she is fine with her allowing wife to feed and play with her, and no response with wife showing me affection.
Interaction with other pets: i know this sounds crazy but i have even noticed interaction and some form of communication between my chihuahua and sting ray.. example the chihuahua will jump on the arm of the sofa paw the tank.. the ray will approach the dog and act is if it is wanting to play with the dog, and the dog becomes playful toward the ray. however, when the ray is hunting / stalking live prey, the dog becomes frightened and will run away from the tank and hide, or run to me frightened, and begin shaking, as it is usually at night with a dark room, the dog does not even have to be viewing the tank.. just nearby. the dog shows no reaction, when my large Oscars are feeding / hunting live feeders making allot of noise in another tank in same room, only with the ray..so tell me how the dog knows when the ray is stalking...........
Intelligence: they are very smart, try this sometime... take a shrimp and place inside a hole in a rock or clear tube.. watch the ray stop, think and use trial and error process to retrieve the food.. for some reason people seriously under estimate the intelligence of animals..
She is a FW Atlantic approx 3 years old, that i have owned for 2 and a half years. It is unknown if she was a wild capture, although i tend to think so. When i began thinking of buying her, i went to the lfs daily to feed her for 2 months, i had agreed to buy her and they agreed not to allow any one else to interact with her during this time. She started becoming excited when she would see me walk in to the store, next she began allowing me to play with her. When i felt it was time to take her home i was able to reach in to her tank and pick her up by hand and place her in to the bin i had prepared. She became excited when she saw the bin wheeled next to her tank, after filling the bin with water from her tank, i placed my hands in the tank she swam in to them and rested. the lfs had her de-barbed at the time, she was there, so risk was low.
i am no expert by far simply my observations with my pets......
