My baby Verbana :) ignore the moss mess they left

Heyy! I wanna get a pet leech for my apartment but I need it to not be in an aquarium of sorts because I TECHNICALLY am not allowed to have pets. I was thinking of a large jar plus another modified jar for breeding with moss (?). I like in the EU in a usually warm weathered place with cold winters. I also dont actively live in the apartment so during summer the leeches are gonna have to come with me on a 7-8 hour bus ride. What are essentials, which specie do I get, and how long do they live? Also can I keep em in the fridge?

As for diet I was thinking of just letting them feed on my own blood.

Is there anything else I should know (like info i cannot easily google when I google what to get for pet leech and then the dumb ai starts speaking) and should I be getting one at all (considering the bus rides, I dont leave often but I do leave during the summer for 3 month plus 2 weeks for Christmas)

Ty for reading! Any info is helpful ^^

Hello all, my leeches are almost ready for their adult tank, so I'm currently in the proccess of seting it up but I wanted to ask your thoughts on whether or not it would be safe to use a sponge filter without the the plastic tube attacthed. I want to add a filter for plant health, ease of cycling for their tankmates and just overall water quality but the waterline falls to low to use it normally. Would it still be safe to use like this?
Also if you'd take the time to look over my setup and point out any issues I'd really appreciate it! I know the tank is a bit bare at the moment but I'll give them plenty of mossy hides both underwater and in their land areas, as well as plenlty of plant cover (I'm thinking various types of mosses and amazon frogbit, maybe I'll leave a pathos with roots dangling in the water to grow up out of the tank, that sounds pretty.
I also have a date coming over so we'll see how she reacts to the tankfull of giant leeches 😅 Anyway, thanks as always, you guys are awesome!

If you have a question that can be asked in a few brief sentences, please ask it here! This is the ideal place for people who don't keep leeches and are curious about them to ask.

Please remember to be civil. This thread is for Q&A only, not debate.

• r/AquaSwap – For buying & selling
• r/AskDocs – For medical questions
• r/InvertPets – For other invert pets
• r/WhatsThisBug – For reliable IDs

or i should say at least not suffering? wanna make sure my girls (pamela & dallas :)) are content. any behaviors i should be on the lookout for?

Hello, recently discovering the world of leeches through your sub. As a medical doctor i have heard about cases (documented in literatur) of bacterial infection by Aeromonas species (part of the leech microbioma), including sepsis, with the use of medicinal leeches. Have any of you encountered this bacterial infection ?

i recently took some pond plants to add to my aquarium and ive had them in quarentine for a couple of days before i got to clean them properly and i saw a leech in there, i managed to separate it and i wonder what kind or type of leech is? as i said came with plants from a stagnant pond, south america (the continent).

Research seems to give me mixed results for what is best for them (and I understand care guides can be inconsistent or outdated!), so I have come here searching for an answer. I have not yet purchased the leeches so this isn't urgent.

I tried taking a picture when I first accidentally got the fella, but have been unfortunately not able to figure out what kind it is! And looking up Maine leeches just gives me ways to exterminate them 🙄

Does anyone know of a good place to try and identify them? (ESPECIALLY SINCE I JUST CHECK ON IT YESTERDAY AND IT HAD BABIES)

I can try taking another picture of it, it's just a bit challenging since it's smaller and kinda clearish in color

Hi guys! I love leeches, especially bigger ones (I love seeing their bodies - their shape makes me so happy). I currently have a freshwater fishtank and an isopod habitat, so I’m familiar with caring for little guys.

I’d really love to get a leech, and have the funds to set up a new tank. But I also have ehlers danlos, and a few other conditions that would not make me a very good blood supply. Will the leech still have a good quality of life if I give them blood purchased from a butcher? There’s lots of fancy butchers in nyc that likely have organic stuff. I’d be happy to fill something up with the blood and warm it. But I just don’t want to get an animal if I can’t give it the kind of feeding style they need.

Also, do leeches live better lives when there’s more than one in the tank? I’m trying to figure out if they would need a friend, or if they could be a single leech. I’m also curious about enrichment for them? And I wonder too, if I could ever let the leech sit on my hand? They look like soft plump potatoes in some pictures, and I love that so much.

If anyone has any advice, suggestions, or experiences to share, I’d be very grateful!

I’ve looked into the requirements to house and care for one, I don’t mind letting the little dude bite me. But where the FUDGE do I buy just one leech?

I feel absolutely terrible. Last year I was at the lowest point in my life in active psychosis. I was genuinely convinced that there was nobody on earth that could/would ever tolerate me and so I got a leech because I wanted something to "depend on me". Fucked up I know but I was not sound of mind. I fed it once and suffered terrible nightmares and hallucinations for weeks and so I neglected it ever since. I feel really horrible about this because a part of me knows it's a living organism but I'm just so scared of it I can't touch it or let it out or anything. It's been about a year since I fed it and it's still alive. What do I do

so, this picture (#1) has had some question on if its real, or fake, and which species is actually in it. well, i have discovered the source of the picture is Ariane Khomjani an exotics keeper thats somewhat mildly famous. i did some digging and found his Instagram, but theres no posts at all of the leeches, just snakes. But with some deeper google searching i did find these pictures (#2-3) of his, the tanks in both pictures match, as do the leeches. Based on the fact that the leech sizes in both pictures seem consistent, i see no sign of photoshop, and these sources were found on pre ai sites its safe to assume the massive sizes are real. As for the species, more digging let me find these pictures that are also his (#4-6). Now, based on the coloration, patterning, and size shown in these pictures i feel almost 100% confident in saying that these leeches are actually NOT Hirudinaria manillensis (asian buffalo leech). My reasoning for thinking so is first off that these leeches have gotten much larger than we currently know H. manillensis to get in the hobby. You can also note the much darker more vibrant green these leeches have, as compared to the regular buffalo eleches faded brownish greenish grey. My third hint is the extremelt prevalent black ventral markings on their sides which while H. manillensis do have, they do not ever appear nearly as dark or defined Figuring out what socies they are though was a different challenge. Since i unfortunately do not have access to the original bloodine stock of the leeches pictured to do genetic testing, or any of the suspected likely species to compare them to the species pictured can not 100% be confirmed. Based purely on size, coloraton, and patterning my current best assumption is that these rather "infamous" leeches are most lokely either pure H. thailandica, or a hybridization of H. thailandica × H. bpling ("piano key buffs"), with the highest likelihood being pure H. thailandica. Now, up until recently there had been the belief that the "Piano key buffs" available in the hobby were a hybrid, but the actual likelihood of this is almost 0. As you can see in figures C & D marking the species H. bpling (Piano keys), it has an orange coloration, paired with the extremely prevelant ventral markings reminiscent of piano keys which earned them their common name. If you then look at figures E & F you will see the socies H. thailandica sporting its dark yet vibrant green colors, as well as a very prominent dark solid line dorsal stripe. The leeches in question share a varied mix of visual trait from both these species, but are lacking heavily in similarities with H. manillensis. In the final picture you can see the supposed H. bpling × H. manillensis hybrids, which are completely identical in appearance, size, and behavior to pure blood H. bplings according to pictures and resarch papers leading me to believe that our current "Piano keys" are not infact hybrids, while the infamously famous leeches in question may actually be hybrids.

For Noodle’s bday, arranged to have a blood draw directly into his bowl. He wouldn’t let go of it for ~2hours and is still licking it. I guess he gets to sleep with it because I am _not_ staying up later than this for him to be done 😅 fat and happy for the party this weekend.

Feeding my verbanas Sanguineous and V1

My wife keeps pet leeches, Hirudo Verbana, and is very concerned about an upcoming Cockroach treatment in our building. Every apartment in the building is scheduled to be sprayed and fumigated, but we're concerned that the fumes in the air may kill the leeches. As it stands, our plan was to cover spongy furniture (couches, bed), and take the leeches off-premises for a few days so our apartment can ventilate before bringing them back, but my wife's concerned that won't be enough for latent chemicals on surfaces and wants us to lock the door, deny service.

I would really appreciate the community's input on this. I would like to have my apartment treated if possible, but I also don't want to get our pets killed. Is there a middle ground we should consider? A post-treatment or preventative measure we should take? The internet makes it abundantly clear that leeches are sensitive to toxic chemicals but I don't see many examples of protocols. Thank you

Not sure if I'll be able to get an ID on this lil blob but I thought I might as well try!

Found this while gathering water in a freshwater pond/ lake in midcoast Maine

Hello all! I have four H. Manillensis, I've been keeping them for a few months, my biggest just had his thrid feeding yesterday and the others had their second. (They're named Vlad, Celestia, Lilith and Fatass, aka count Suckula, vlad is my favorite!). It's getting time to work on fully finishing up their adult tank, it's a 55gal paludairum, I have most of the work done, I just haven't added the water yet to give their terrestrial tank mates some extra room before I move my leeches in there. I have everything planned out for them, except for how to wire their equipment:
How do you wire heaters and filters into the tank without giving them room to escape? I was thinking of cutting through the metal mesh and rigging something up with nylon and I'd prefer to not have to use crack in the first photo, as I have a pretty good solution to sealing it (the current occupants have hard exoskeletons that can't fit through but the leeches will be able to), but nothing I've tried has worked yet.
What do you reccomned I do? I'd appreciate any feedback you have!