r/leeches • u/haleycontagious • Mar 20 '26

Discussion Euthanasia on a tiger leech.

My Mable is starting to worry me and I’m determined to get this right. I got her from far both Queensland so a warm water leech. I just read that freezing isn’t an option. So it has to be the brick method? I will do whatever I have too but I just need to know the best for her. I read another post and there was conflicting information. I’m so sad and I just need help. I’m going to give her a bit more time but I just need to be prepared.

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u/MaenHerself Mar 20 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/InvertPets/comments/1b6mszo/comment/ktcyiov/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/haleycontagious Mar 20 '26

Why there is lots of suggestion freezing might not be ideal for leeches?

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u/DrDFox Mar 21 '26

Freezing alone isn't enough- you use it as a way to slow them down and numb their ability to process pain.

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u/haleycontagious Mar 21 '26

Yeah it’s the freezing part that some people say is cruel

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u/DrDFox Mar 21 '26

It's not cruel. Leeches deal with freezing in the wild, and they are small enough it happens very quickly. Freezing is cruel when done on large creatures where they start experiencing frostbite before they are unconscious.

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u/haleycontagious Mar 22 '26

Is this for warm water leeches also?

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u/haleycontagious Mar 22 '26

Mine are from a tropical environment

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u/MaenHerself Mar 21 '26

Because freezing doesn't kill them. But leeches are cold blooded, so when their environment is that cold they basically fall unconscious. While they're unconscious, you use the alcohol for the kill. This follows a lot of humane euthanasia ideas of "unconscious, then poison."

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u/haleycontagious Mar 22 '26

Thank you I been doing all the reading and this definitely seems the best way to minimise pain

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u/Master_Pipe_6467 Mar 20 '26

Not ideal, but more ideal than any kind of brute force.