Stingray question

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Wildlife Encounters

Feeder Fish
Jan 25, 2010
2
0
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Nebraska
We do educational programs for schools and would like to add a stingray exhibit. We would really like for students at the schools to be able to pet the stingrays. Is the a specie of freshwater stingray that this would be best for petting? Is this at possible?
We just started doing research on this and are trying to get the most information we can before deciding if we should add this in or not.
Thanks for any help.
 
Wildlife Encounters;3823368; said:
What kind of ray would be best suited for allowing kids to pet them?
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...

potamotrygon petting exhibit = a personal injury lawyer's wet dream..
 
Deaths Sting;3823431; said:
potamotrygon petting exhibit = a personal injury lawyer's wet dream..
Click to expand...
xD so true. Your constant moving of the ray is certainly going to lead to deaths very very soon after you start the program. Not to mention the size of the container you would need. Then you have the problem with the barb. Its not the best of ideas.
 
If you are intent of having a roving collection of "petable" rays please consider the following:

1) Constant packing, transporting, unpacking, displaying, packing and transporting of your rays will lead to immense stress. The rays may not last long. Consider having multiple rays in inventory to allow for some much needed downtime after each encounter.

2) Constant exposure to substances/chemicals/contaminants on the hands and fingers of school children will most likely lead to fungal and/or bacterial infections on/in the rays. Consider stocking multiple antibiotics and fungal treatments, ray-safe treatments.

3) Constant touch by humans tends to wear out patches of the rays tooth-like scales (dermal denticles). This can lead to fungal infections and stress to rays. Consider having multiple rays for your presentations, rotating them as they heal.

4) The spine of stingrays is capable of immense trauma to the victim. Removal of the spine is best done under anesthetic, with antibiotic and conducted by a professional. The spine regenerates itself a few times a year. This procedure can be expensive to the owner and very stressful to the rays.

5) While removal of a rays spine may mitigate some of the hazards associated with touching stingray, it won't cover them all. Discuss your idea with an attorney to make sure you can cover your "be-hind" with, say, a waiver of harm/responsibility.

Not to sound like a smartypants, but I would not advise you to pursue your idea of a traveling touch pool with stingrays. But if you do, best of luck.

ZooDiver may be a better resource for you to contact on this matter.

Respectfully,
FireMedic.
 
I agree, bad idea; Better idea is to set up a nice seven or eight hundred gallon aquarium at one of your homes or office and bring the children to the rays; No petting; I think its great to teach children about aquaria but they should also be taught there are certain things in life that should not be messed with! Rays are very beautiful creatures and would be quite a thrill for kids to see up close like that;

Let the kids wait till their older ... say early forties, financially secure .... then let them discover (on their own) the joy and rush of learning to hand feed stingrays!
 
All freshwater rays are venomous so it's not the best idea to pet one.
 
Your idea can be done, but it might be more involved than you might want to be in order to pull it off well.

First thing I'd suggest would be set your sights on a smaller marine rays (yellow rays would be my first choice if asked to do something like this). I know a lot of people will cringe at the idea of saltwater and the added cost... but in the long run, it will be cheaper than trying to maintain a collection of freshwater rays to rotate into a transport type gig.

As suggested, have a large pool set up with many animals. Then set up a rotation to keep the stress levels as low as possible. I've run a few programs similar to what you are hoping for... most used small sharks that we would allow to go to classrooms.

Other factors are going to include the transport set up itself and being comfortable enough with water chemistry (Especially pH, NH3 and D.O.), how to adjust it on the fly and how to keep it stable enough to house rays while they are out and about.

Once you get all that down, you'll still be dealing with venomous animals that will need to be maintained properly so they don't pose a threat to the little hands touching them. It's easy to do, but it's just another one of those things you need to be VERY on top of as you move forward.

Feel free to ask a lot of questions. There are a lot of solid minds at work in this section. They'll have some great input for ya. I'm sure we can help you figure out the best animals to meet your goal.
 
i think a better choice for a fish to pet would be a koi/goldfish. they cant inflict any harm and they are fairly easy to keep and transport. fun to touch too!
 
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