# Leech found with blackworms.



## bugmankeith (Jan 13, 2007)

I brought black worms and I found a leech mixed in with them, it's alive and longer than a thumbnail, it's clear and has a line of green going through it.

I put a piece of romaine lettuce in with it to see if it eats.

1. I'm assuming it eats plants?
2. What species is it?
3. What type of water is it found in, and does it survive in warm or cold water? (summer only, or summer and winter)
4. Can it survive in captivity, can it live in de-chlorinated and de-chloraminated water? (aka "treated water")


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 13, 2007)

It's not going to eat any lettuce. Instead, try sticking it between your fingers for a few hours and see if it "digs in". Or put a worm with it an see if it eats that. Even if providing a picture it might be very hard to ID (and not by me anyhow!). If you wanna keep it as a pet I'd try a shore setup because you can't be sure if it's a water leach or a land living leach. Moisture is needed anyhow.

Just pour the water you need into a bucket and let it stay for a day. The clorine will evaporate.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 14, 2007)

Wait, do you think it could be a flatworm?


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 14, 2007)

bugmankeith said:


> Wait, do you think it could be a flatworm?


You said it's a leech, so I assumed it's a leech  . I have no idea what it is. But I'm no way good with leeches so if you take a picture I might be able to tell you it's not a whale or a bird.  

Leeches are those carnivores which are famous for latching on to verts and sucking blood (mostly).


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## myrmecophile (Jan 14, 2007)

Leeches are very common in blackworm shipments. I used to get numerous specimens when I bought the worms. I never did figure out just what they were using as a host but did my best to get rid of them when I cleaned the black worms.


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 14, 2007)

myrmecophile said:


> Leeches are very common in blackworm shipments. I used to get numerous specimens when I bought the worms. I never did figure out just what they were using as a host but did my best to get rid of them when I cleaned the black worms.


Depending on the species they might even eat the black worms, since some leeches go for soft bodied invert prey too.


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## Hedorah99 (Jan 14, 2007)

The ones we get in blackworms shipments at the zoo seem to like fish. They had no interest in us, well at least what we saw. There are hundreds of species of leech all having different host choices. One of the ponds at the zoo has a species that only goes after crayfish. As far as I know all leaches are parasitc and won't like the lettuce.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 14, 2007)

Ok, so where do blackworms come from? (what type of water?) (do they like the warm water or cold?) (pond or lake?)

Where are the cultures raised, indoor or out?


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## nepenthes (Jan 14, 2007)

dont ask why I have this saved in my book marks..

but you might find it interesting
http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/


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## beetleman (Jan 14, 2007)

all leeches are carnivorous,and parisitic(spelling):wall: most if not all love cool,chemical free water and it must be very clean at all times,even though they come from areas that are stagnent,swampy.alot of leeches only feed on particular food items,but not all of them ofcourse,i used to keep the blood feeding ssp. aswell as the worm eating ssp. the one you have will mostly feed on the worms and bits of fish,it should be kept very cool,clean water hope this helps ya.


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## bugmankeith (Jan 14, 2007)

I'm guessing it does feed on soft worms or fish, and i'm also guessing it comes from freshwater ponds.


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## beetleman (Jan 14, 2007)

correct good luck with it,they are awesome critters


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## arachnocat (Jan 16, 2007)

Sometimes I see leeches for sale on science supply sites. How do you keep them alive though? Like the large medical leeches. What do you feed those?


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## bugmankeith (Jan 16, 2007)

Medical leeches eat blood. Who knows mabye drop enough bloodworms in to get the water filled with blood?


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 16, 2007)

You'd have to take a saucage skin (also known as pigs intestines), fill them with blood, maybe even warm up the saucage a little (just enough, you don't want the blood to coagulate) and then put them in with your leeches. They'll attach themselves and start sucking.


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## Tleilaxu (Jan 16, 2007)

Hedorah99 said:


> The ones we get in blackworms shipments at the zoo seem to like fish. They had no interest in us, well at least what we saw. There are hundreds of species of leech all having different host choices. One of the ponds at the zoo has a species that only goes after crayfish. As far as I know all leaches are parasitc and won't like the lettuce.


Thats not true several species of leech are plant and algae eaters.


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## AfterTheAsylum (Jan 16, 2007)

Now I want a leech.  Thanks guys.  You just expended my hobby.  You had me at blood filled sausage.

ATA


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## beetleman (Jan 17, 2007)

arachnocat said:


> Sometimes I see leeches for sale on science supply sites. How do you keep them alive though? Like the large medical leeches. What do you feed those?


ive kept the medicinal leeches,i kept them very cool temps,very clean treated water,and fed them frogs(i used to work in a petstore,any frog that would die i would use them the leeches went crazy over the frogs,it seems they prefer frogs in nature aswell)they lived for a couple of years. i also kept the giant horse leeches,ribbon leeches,same care as the medicinals but these leeches feed on earthworms,bloodworms,really cool animals in my book:clap: just make any container you use for them has very airholes because they can squeeze threw anything.


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## beetleman (Jan 17, 2007)

beetleman said:


> ive kept the medicinal leeches,i kept them very cool temps,very clean treated water,and fed them frogs(i used to work in a petstore,any frog that would die i would use them the leeches went crazy over the frogs,it seems they prefer frogs in nature aswell)they lived for a couple of years. i also kept the giant horse leeches,ribbon leeches,same care as the medicinals but these leeches feed on earthworms,bloodworms,really cool animals in my book:clap: just make any container you use for them has very airholes because they can squeeze threw anything.


DOE!!:wall: i ment very SMALL airholes........ahh that's better


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## beetleman (Jan 17, 2007)

beetleman said:


> DOE!!:wall: i ment very SMALL airholes........ahh that's better


now i have to learn how to spell (MEANT)


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 17, 2007)

beetleman said:


> now i have to learn how to spell (MEANT)


Next step is to learn how to edit an old post


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## arachnocat (Jan 17, 2007)

So that's how they do it! I wonder if you could drop in dead mice for them. I guess you could always stick a few on your arm and feed em that way. Eeeew :}


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## beetleman (Jan 17, 2007)

arachnocat said:


> So that's how they do it! I wonder if you could drop in dead mice for them. I guess you could always stick a few on your arm and feed em that way. Eeeew :}


i tried frozen thawed pinky mice they latched on sucked alittle then refused i guess amphibians are their main diet, but i had one get on me by mistake,when i was cleaning the container they were in,when they warm up alittle they get very aggressive and want to feed,i let it feed on me,which took about acouple of minutes,it dropped off back into the container w/the others,very slight stinging and man the wound kept bleeding it was really nasty i put alot of bandages on the wound very tight it took some time to stop bleeding(i'll never get in that mess again:wall: ) it left a little x mark from it's little razor like teeth jaws.  now kids don't try this at home i'll tell ya you can bleed to death if your not careful........well maybe not to death;P


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 18, 2007)

I assure you, it must have looked worse than it was. That "so much" blood was comming was certainly not due to anything other than the anti coagulant they inject when feeding.


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## funnylori (Jan 18, 2007)

Gross dude, letting it feed off of you...

That aside, I used to work for a lab at OSU taking care of their grasshopper colony. One of the labs down the hall left them a 'gift' of a bunch of leeches in a plastic bag and cup when the door was open and nobody was home... My boss tried to give them to me, she thought I would appreciate them some how... I so kindly refused to take them. *shiver* Leeches and lampreys freak me out.

Anyways, we fed them in the lab bits of cow liver from the grocery store. The liver usually comes packed in copious amounts of blood and seemed to work fine for the 4 inch grey ones we had. We also gave them a rock. For some reason they liked the really big rock comming out of the water.


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## beetleman (Jan 18, 2007)

Cirith Ungol said:


> I assure you, it must have looked worse than it was. That "so much" blood was comming was certainly not due to anything other than the anti coagulant they inject when feeding.


oh yeah, it did with all that blood coming out of my finger,but then when it finally stopped(thank god:clap: ) the wound was so tiny alittle x mark, the thing i hate is when your bleeding have some pain to go along with it,but hardly any pain and all that blood coming out was making me get sickly,on the side note i didn't want to let it feed on me,but i coudn't just pull it off injuring it and me


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## Cirith Ungol (Jan 18, 2007)

beetleman said:


> oh yeah, it did with all that blood coming out of my finger,but then when it finally stopped(thank god:clap: ) the wound was so tiny alittle x mark, the thing i hate is when your bleeding have some pain to go along with it,but hardly any pain and all that blood coming out was making me get sickly,on the side note i didn't want to let it feed on me,but i coudn't just pull it off injuring it and me


That's chivalry


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## dtknow (Jan 20, 2007)

The ones that come with blackworms eat blackworms. I've never seen them attach to fish. Actually, bigger fish like them.


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## EAD063 (Jan 21, 2007)

dtknow said:


> The ones that come with blackworms eat blackworms. I've never seen them attach to fish. Actually, bigger fish like them.


I think they live under flat rocks too. I remember fishing in a pond once and flipping over a flat rock and seeing 3 or 4 of them attached to the bottom of it..so I assume thats the kind of "home" they look for.... they also unattatched themselves from the rock and started flopping around tad once the rock brkoe the plane of the water and they were exposed to  air.... If anyone has pics they should post them, I'm a bit interested now.


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## GartenSpinnen (Jan 22, 2007)

Ive kept leeches before. I had the ones you buy at the bait shop, which prefer to eat live fish... go figure... figured this out AFTER i put a couple dozen in my teachers tropical fish tank.... it was very very ugly situation, there was torn apart fish bodies and fish eyeballs floating in the aquarium, and on top of that if you keep them do NOT use undergravel filteration, they get stuck under it and die and smell horrid . Hope that helps!


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