as the title says, my ray has had a peice of fish net stuck on his barb for a couple of month and it still hasnt fallin off. It has been white for some time and there is no skin left on it.
how often do they shed their barbs?
- Thread starter mekoner
- Start date
It depends on how fast your ray grows. I would say they lose there stinger once every 2-3 months but that is just a estimate. You will know when the stinger is going to fall out as it starts to push out of the skin and you will see the white at the base of the stinger start to show.
The rays that I used to have shed their stingers more like every 4-6 months, could be because they were still young. Sorry to hijack the thread but, when a ray sheds it's stinger is it safe to touch it? Somebody told me that it wasn't before so I always used gloves to handle them.
stingray94;1685441; said:
they were correct... they protein that is the "poison" in the rays stinger still has the same effect however its fine to touch just dont cut urself with it. The bone part you are taking out isnt actually the poisonous part the sheath around it is.. and when they shead it the sheath goes away but there is left over protien still on it which is why it could still potentually be dangerous I was told that if you boil the stinger in hot water the protien would go away.
