Leeches!

Leech care, information, and personal leech adventures!

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tsetsi asked: Have you tried reselling the leeches and making a business out of this hobby?

I have not, because according to what I’ve read, leeches lay egg cocoons which will result in enormous amounts of tiny leeches. I do not have the time or set up for this, as I am a busy student. But it would definitely be interesting if my leech hobby became something more like a business! I’m not opposed to it, but I’m just too busy with school and my other weird pets. :)

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Anonymous asked: Hi, are you still active on here? My pet leech Feleechia a and I love your blog. We live in Sydney, Australia. Feleechia is a land leech but she/he loves tap water. Feleetchia had a big feed off of my dog Nimbus - that's how I found her and decided to keep it as a pet. Feleechia aka Feleechio, when he's in a boy mood, lives in a pasta jar and I sometimes put leaves and rocks in to switch up his environment. I'm a vegan and I won't be feeding Feleechia myself, so what should we do? Thanks! S & F

Hello, I will occasionally check in but haven’t had time to respond to messages. Sorry for the delayed response!

Aw, this is such a cute leech story, and it sounds like you have a lovely environment for your pet!

You could try feeding your leech blood sausage.
Instructions here: http://leechqueen.tumblr.com/post/82874224388/if-i-wanted-to-raise-a-seperate-tank-of-leeches-just

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Leechy Update!

Hello followers, it’s been a while!

Leechy update:
I am waiting for my new batch of leeches to arrive in the mail! In my experience, medical leeches don’t have a terribly long life span. I had them for several years, but the time has come to get some more.

I was actually kind of hesitant on bringing these little guys back into my life, as they can be a bit of work. (Especially since I unintentionally had so many!)

I am currently an art student, and I have decided to incorporate leeches into my most recent project:

I’m building a walk-in cabinet which will have shelves of leeches in jars. Based on scientist George Merryweather’s studies with leeches in the 1800’s, leeches will actually react to changes in atmospheric pressure. So I’m rigging the jarred leeches to pendulums which will pull strings and ring bells when the leeches become agitated. The inside of the cabinet will be like linear stringy chaos- the strings connect the leech jars to bells in every which direction! Hopefully this project turns out well, critique is on Monday and my leeches haven’t arrived yet!

With this new batch of leeches, I’ll make some videos: Arrival of the leeches! Leeches’ first feeding! …Any video suggestions?

Thanks all for following, I’ll try and make this blog more lively again.

Filed under leeches Leech pet leech hirudotherapy

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Anonymous asked: My leeches are vomiting every time I change there water in there leech tank is this normal? And if I have 12 leeches how often do you think I should change the water in there tank? thanks.

A good idea for anyone keeping aquatic creatures is to only change part of  the water at a time so it doesn’t shock their system. For example, if the water gets a bit dirty, only change out half of it or so because it could shock their system if you just put them in brand new water. Shocking them could cause vomiting. Frequency of water changing depends on the size of your tank, but I would say more frequent partial water changes is better than total water change once in a while.

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Anonymous asked: How often should I feed my leeches? And my leeches have been getting really odd and not letting some of the other leeches eat the food. I'm getting worried because the leeches that are not eating are getting super small and thin. Thanks.

Be sure to separate unfed leeches from those who are fed, as the hungry leeches will sometimes cannibalize the fat ones. Just let the skinny ones eat first?

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Anonymous asked: Hi my leeches have been huddling in to the corners of my leech tank and they wont move. I get that they don't move all the time, but they are always siting in the corner halfway out of the water and halfway in the water, is this normal? Thanks.

If they are hanging out outside the water for prolonged periods of time, it could be that there is something in the water they don’t like. Be sure it’s clean, dechlorinated, and isn’t distilled. If the water’s good, I’m not sure what else it could be.