pod, Most of them do not have spines that "stick" you. There are a few exceptions but even then, they are not too bad. Lepismium members tend to be more spiny, IMO, then the Rhipsalis. I have occasionally been stuck by R. pilocarpa, but it is mostly soft spined.
These are epiphytic cactus. Besides Rhipsalis, you have close relatives Lepismium, Hatoria and Schlumbergia. The "experts" and scientists sometimes move plant species from one family to the other. This group of plants is a mess. Many of the species are poorly defined, so there is some minor controversy. Fortunately, there are a couple of places doing research on them, and progress is being made.
Identifying many of these plants is challenging for experts and hence difficult for hobbyists. It is therefore important, if you want to know the true ID of your Rhipsalis, to get good pictures of flowers and resulting fruit if opportunity presents. However, on the positive side, there are a number of Rhipsalis that are distinctive and easy to ID, among these R. pilocarpa, R. horridia, R. paradoxa, R. cerescula, R. catenulata, R. ceroides, and R. mesembryanthemoides. Be very careful of the ID's on plants available commercially in the big box stores. More than half the time, they are not correctly ID'd, but hopefully that is getting better. Many of the plants sold there are R. baccifera, a very common Rhipsalis that comes in many different forms. It is one of the areas of research. The baccifera's may eventually be sorted out into different species or subspecies.
JoJoe, can you post some more pics of your "old man" Rhipsalis? I'd like to make an attempt to ID it, if possible, for you.
