General care, feeding and reproduction of Hirudo verbana Water: This is a critical environmental factor. Tap water is usually treated with chlorine and/or chloramine. The chlorine will disappear after a few days and the water will be fine. However, since the chlorine will disappear, many municipalities now treat the water with chloramine, which will be persistent unless treated. Check your local aquarium store for water treatment solutions that remove both additives. Be sure to follow the treatment with the recommended amount of water. If you're not sure if your water has a chloramine additive, you can usually find this information on your local community website. Well water is ideal as is rainwater. You might want to try them for heartburn. A neutral pH is best. Spring water is also great. You can often find it in your supermarket. If your water is mineral poor, you can also add aquarium salts, again in the amount suggested by the manufacturer. Distilled water can also be used, but it should be supplied with aquarium salts, as these minerals are important to the health of the leeches. Well water is also a good alternative; however, well and spring water may be high in calcium and should be tested. The number of leeches per volume of water depends largely on the size of your leeches. 
Young leeches can be kept in a liter/quart jar and can comfortably hold 20-30 leeches or more. However, as they feed and grow, you should keep no more than five or more per liter/quart, less when they become very large. Leech feeding on human What to feed leeches How to keep leeches as pets How long do leeches live without blood Leech feeding on human Why do leeches sucking and feeding on human blood? - Thomas, 6 years old. The short answer is that leeches need blood to grow and reproduce (make baby leeches). Leeches are worms that live in water or on land and feed by sucking blood from fish, frogs, lizards, birds or, if they get the chance, larger animals like humans. Des quality analysis chaque jour dans vos mail, gratuitously. They suck blood because it is a very good source of food for them. Some leeches only need to be fed once a year. The only problem with sucking blood is that you have to do it carefully, especially if the animal you're sucking might bite or tear you. So leeches, like all bloodsuckers, generally like to bite without causing too much pain. They like to bite in hard to find places.
Blood clots but leeches have a solution Another thing leeches have to worry about is blood clots. A blood clot forms whenever you cut yourself and stops bleeding within minutes; eventually, the blood clot forms a scab. This happens when blood comes into contact with air. It clumps together and forms a solid lump. The leech cannot eat if the blood forms a clot and therefore releases a chemical that prevents clotting. This keeps the blood flowing so that the leech can suck for two to three hours without stopping. That way, he gets enough food to last him until he finds another animal to bite. Leeches were once used medicinally. Sheikh by Faizan Ahmad/shutterstock À lire aussi : Curious children: how does our heart beat? Leeches are not the only animals that feed on the blood of animals. Others include mosquitoes, ticks, vampire bats (yes, they do exist, but only in South America), bugs, lice, other insects, and lamprey fish. All of these feed on large animals, but do not kill them, which is why they are all called parasites. All parasites live in or on other animals, and many of them feed on blood. Blood can be easily collected either inside or outside the body. It is highly nutritious and always abundant, so the parasite-fed animal can often do without. Here are some leeches on a hiker's shoe in the rain forest. Shutter stock Leeches and medicine Leeches can be annoying, and their bites can itch us, but they are not usually dangerous to humans. In fact, leeches have been used to treat human ailments for thousands of years. Their blood-sucking ability was thought to be useful in sucking diseased or "bad" blood from the body, so sick people were regularly leeched.
However, we now know that allowing the leeches to suck blood helps little in most cases. In fact, if too many leeches are applied, a sick person may faint from blood loss.
- What to feed leeches
What leeches to have a reputation to feed as bloodthirsty pests that latch onto humans and animals that dare enter their aquatic domain, but not all leeches drink blood. Many types of leeches, including ribbon leeches or bait leeches (Nephelopsis obscura), are scavengers at times. They eat debris that accumulates at the bottom of lakes, ponds, and slow streams. Ribbon leeches are also predators and eat small invertebrates when they catch them, using their sharp teeth to bite off pieces of meat. small insects Ribbon leeches will eat small insects that come into the water and die. Feed them a variety of foods such as crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, small beetles and meal worms. Because leeches can have trouble catching and eating live bugs, put a few bugs in a plastic bag and place them in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes to kill them before feeding to the leeches. You can purchase some or all of these insects at your local pet store or from online vendors. Various invertebrates It is common for ribbon leeches to eat a wide variety of invertebrates, and most of them you should buy, breed yourself, or find in good weather. Try giving your leeches aquatic snails, earthworms or small crustaceans. Since crayfish eat leeches, be careful to feed your leeches something large enough to eat them rather than the other way around. Leeches do not need to eat every day and it will be nice if you give them a few snails every week or so.
Other Foods Leeches Eat Ribbon leeches spend at least part of their time foraging for and consuming bits of rotting fish and other animal matter, but in captivity it is generally not a good idea to feed them rotting food, because it can pollute the water. Amphibian eggs, such as those laid by frogs and salamanders, are a good choice for ribbon leeches. You may have trouble procuring them, but you may find them in lakes and streams in the spring., how much to feed Leeches can only eat so much, and if you overfeed your ribbon leeches, some of the food will be wasted. Wasted food ends up polluting the water, creating an unhealthy environment. Exactly how much they need depends on how big your leeches are, how often you feed them, and how much you have. If the leeches don't eat all their food and it spoils, feed them less, but if they clean everything up quickly and seem to be looking for more, increase the amount slightly.
- How to keep leeches as pets
How to keep leeches as pets Leeches can make great pets for those who are not too fussy about caring for them. They can live for months without food, require little care, and are unique creatures to keep in a fish tank. But like any pet, you need to know how to feed and keep them. Lucky for you, it's not that hard! 1 Purchase a glass tank that is at least 1⁄2 gallon (1.9 L) in size. Visit a local fish or pet store and invest in a fish tank. Leeches are experts at living indoors; at most, about 50 can live comfortably in 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water. However, this ultimately depends on the type of leech and its environmental source. In general, a maximum of 50 leeches can live in a 38 L (10 gallon) aquarium. Pond leeches are best with 1 to 2 leeches per gallon.
Catch leeches from a pond or buy them at a bait shop. If you catch leeches yourself, use a small dip net to collect them from a pond or gently remove them with tweezers. You can also visit a local bait shop or science supply store to purchase them. If you buy leeches from a store, ask the staff what kind of food and space they need. Fill the fish tank with 75 percent water from a lake or stream. Leaving some free space at the top of the tank creates a barrier to prevent leeches from escaping. Always use spring water, non-chlorinated tap water, or water from the collection site. Do not use purified water or chlorinated water: the former harms the metabolic balance of leeches, while the latter contains harmful substances such as copper and chlorine. Make sure the water is fresh and clean. To remove chlorine from tap water, fill a container with water and let it sit for 1-2 days. Once the chlorine smell is gone, you're good to go! You can also purchase a water dechlorinator at a hardware store. 4 Keep the tank temperature between 60 and 70 °F (16 and 21 °C). A temperature range of 76 to 80 °F (24 to 27 °C) is recommended for most aquariums, but you can extend this range a bit for leeches. In fact, they can tolerate a wide range of temperatures, from 40 to 80°F (4 to 27°C). A submersible or pendant heater is the best choice for temperature maintenance. For small tanks, make sure the heater is rated at 5 watts per gallon. Large tanks require about 3 watts per gallon. Check your tank temperature regularly and adjust the heater as needed to keep it within the correct range.
- How long do leeches live without blood
How long leeches are annelids or do segmented worms and, although live closely without blood related to earthworms, they are anatomically and behaviorally more specialized.
Leeches are segmented worms of the subclass Hirudinea that are typically ectoparasites. They belong to the Class Clitellata (with earthworms, Subclass Oligochaeta) due to the presence of a clitellum, which is a swelling toward the animal's head, where the gonads are located. However, unlike oligochaetes, leeches do not exhibit a clitellum throughout the year. Instead, it is only seen during breeding. Leeches are bilaterally symmetrical, with thick muscular bodies. They are usually dorsoventrally (front to back) flattened and segmented, although segments are not often seen. Some leeches are long and worm-like, others are pear-shaped and wide. Most can vary greatly in shape between the extended and contracted states and between the starved state and the full state. The body darkens towards the head and has a small oral sucker surrounding the mouth and a larger caudal (tail) sucker at the rear, except in the parasites of marine fishes, Pisciolidae, which have a larger oral sucker. The anus is on the dorsal (upper) surface just in front of the rear sucker. Euhirudinea ('true' leeches) have 32 internal segments when mature and Acanthobdellida (a small group of fish leeches) have 29, but these are difficult to count because four to six segments are included in the front sucker and seven on the rear sucker. , while the remaining segments are secondarily annulated (ring) to give two to five bright segments in each internal septum (inner membrane). Unlike other annelids, leeches do not have parapodia ('feet') or chaetae (bristles) (except Acanthobdellida). Leeches usually have three jaws and make a Y-shaped incision. The Australian land leech has only two jaws and makes a V-shaped incision.
Habitat Most leeches are freshwater animals, but many terrestrial and marine species are found. Terrestrial leeches are common on the ground or in the low leaves of humid tropical forests. In dry forests, they can be found on the ground in areas moistened by seepage. Most do not enter water and cannot swim, but can survive periods of submergence. In the dry season, some species dig burrows in the ground where they can survive for months, even with a complete lack of water in the environment. Under these conditions, the body becomes dry and hard, the suckers are not recognized and the skin is completely dry. Ten minutes after spraying a few drops of water, these leeches emerge, fully active. Freshwater leeches prefer to live in still or slow-flowing water, but specimens have been collected from fast-flowing streams. Some species are considered amphibians because they have been observed in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Distribution There are about 500 species of leech in the world. They are divided into two main infra classes. Euhirudinea: the 'true' leeches, marine, freshwater and terrestrial, with suckers at both ends and no chaetae (bristles) Acanthobdellida: a small Northern Hemisphere infraclass ectoparasite of salmonid fishes, lacking anterior suckers and persisting in setae.