🚀 go-pugleaf

Pete Dumbleton wrote:

> : Does anyone know how to take care of leeches as pets? Where should they
> : be kept? How often do they need to be fed?

> Put 'em on your arm and see if they're hungry.  *Don't* let them feed on

Provided we are talking about one of the relatively few species which will suck
mammalian blood. Most species of leech are predators on small invertebrates (snails
are often a favourite food), although the parasitic species are the best known.
The medicinal leech can be distinguished from other large leeches by its iridescent
bands and its taste for blood.

Leeches can survive for very long periods of time without food, anecdotal evidence 
suggests that the medicinal leech can survive over a year without food. This, in turn,
implies that they do not require much feeding, although I'd suspect they'd LIKE to feed 
more often than that, and probably need to if they're to breed. They do not exclusively
feed off humans, but do also attack horses and other mammals coming down to the water.

Keeping them in some kind of watery container sounds fine to me. I guess one could
decorate the tank if one'd like - probably the leech will appreciate having somewhere
dark to hide, anyway.

Based on my admittedly few encounters, water quality does not seem to be a great problem 
for the medicinal leech - I've only seen them in small eutrophic ponds. Real medicinal 
leeches may be hard to find, they're actually rare or even endangered in many parts of 
their range, among other places in Sweden (where I believe the would-be keeper lived).

They're pretty closely related to oligochaetes, earthworms and relatives, from which they 
are distinguished by having two pairs of suckers, one at either end, and two external 
'rings' per segment. If I remember correctly.

Of course, care is much different if we're talking land-living tropical leeches, or
very specialized predatory leeches.

Of late I've noticed that there's actually a few places breeding and selling leeches,
probably as part of nature-medicine revival. Perhaps the original poster can obtain
specimens from such a leech-breeder.

Very much as an aside, I actually have a small specimen (about 5cm) of Horse Leech
in a paludarium beside me. It came in with the plants, and since it despite its name is
not a parasitic species, but eat small invertebrates, I've left it alone. This species is 
much more common than the medicinal leech, is dark grey, and can reach 30cm in length 
(twice that of the medicinal leech). Like many leeches it swims well, and
swallows its prey whole.

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