What to feed my leech?

Trey

Arachnoknight
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Ok, I got bored tonight and walked down to the lake by my house and I caught a turtle. Well, when I put him in some water about 4 or more leeches popped off of him so I decided to grab one of them and put it in a glass container. My question is what can I buy for this little bugger to feed off of? I would just let this guy hang on to the turtle but I also want to keep track of him and how big he gets? Any suggestions? Thanks, Trey
 

ScorpionFanatic

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Blood Of course, but because he is a leech, blood of any thing clean would be good. i would wager a guess and say small goldfish or the like.
 

beetleman

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most likely if the leech came off the turtle,that is what it's feeding on(the turtle) but you can try frogs aswell.hope this helps.
 

zimbu

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I've had some luck feeding them earthworms as well, but not all of them would take worms.
 

RoachGirlRen

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I wonder if the species you've caught would drink human blood? It doesn't hurt to have a leech on you, so you could probably feed him your own blood without harming yourself or needing to keep high-maintence feeder animals. It'd be cheap at any rate, if you can handle the "yuck" factor. Then again, I suppose there's always the risk of parasites or diseases...
 

ScorpDemon

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I feed my leech my own blood, but its not wild caught either. I would try frogs, or something similar.
 

wonderwes

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gambieszy

gambieszy guppy maybe they are bigger than most guppies and can survive cold tempretures .maybe make a bog tank .gambieszy or mosiquito guppys are easy to find in the wild they live in ponds and lakes.. depending on the size of this leech
 

arrowhd

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I have to ask. Why would you want to keep leeches? Outside of maybe studing them? I don't know. I'm into quite a few things but not parasites.
 

zimbu

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I have to ask. Why would you want to keep leeches? Outside of maybe studing them? I don't know. I'm into quite a few things but not parasites.
The blood drinking ones are considered predators, not parasites.

There are tiny parasitic species taht live in the gills of crayfish though..
 

Aurelia

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maybe some sort of sausage would work. I saw on tv once some scientists were keeping leeches for something and they fed them these sausage things but they were full of blood instead of meat. that way the leeches would be satisfied being able to break open skin and drink their blood without having to kill or hurt anything.
 

B.L.

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:rolleyes: Pour some salt on those leeches or take em to the side walk and drop a big ol stone on em. Parasite/predator whatever they are not your turtles friend. As far as drinking blood I don't know if I want some swamp leech drinking my blood.... the ones used in hospitals are raised in sterile clean conditions.
 

Ewok

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Yeah I wouldn't think having wild caught leaches drink your blood is a good thing either. Since it was on a turtle, could it carry salmonella?
 
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RoachGirlRen

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Salmonella is found primarily in fecal waste, so it would be doubtful that the leech could be a carrier. There is little evidence to support that even wild caught leaches carry anything harmful to humans, but it is probably better safe than sorry.
 

Schlyne

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Salmonella is found primarily in fecal waste, so it would be doubtful that the leech could be a carrier. There is little evidence to support that even wild caught leaches carry anything harmful to humans, but it is probably better safe than sorry.
If you read the wiki article it quotes a source which found both hep A and Hep B in leeches in cambodia. Those viruses would be transmittable.
 

mr.wilderness

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Maybe some liver. My uncle uses that to catch leeches which he then uses for bait when fishing;) . I stick with the medicinal variety; sanitary, easier to feed (though you're only supposed to feed them from one person due to possible cross contamination)plus more of a story behind them. :worship:
 
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