Leeches

[Pumpkin]

Do leeches terrify anyone else here?

To feed on their hosts, leeches use their anterior suckers to connect to hosts for feeding, and also release an anesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them.

A leech attaches itself when it bites, and it will stay attached until it becomes full, at which point it falls off to digest. Due to the hirudin that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed.

An externally attached leech will detach and fall off on its own when it is satiated on blood, which may be anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours or more.

Blood-sucking leeches suck your blood using two ways: they use a proboscis to puncture your skin, or they use their three jaws and millions of little teeth. Leeches find you by detecting skin oils, blood, heat, or even the carbon dioxide you breathe out.

[Shauna]

Not really. They won't give me malaria unlike some other blood sucking creatures.

Lucky I live somewhere that doesn't have either.

[Psychotic]

I've developed a fondness for letting leeches finish their meal, and then squeezing them like a tube of toothpaste into my mouth with a mocking cry of "Thanks for doing the hard work for me, sucker!"

[Faris]

Yes because I was bit by one. This is why I'm afraid to go in any water that isn't clean or filtered.

[Rantz]

I was sitting with my feet in the water once when one just swam right up and attached itself between my toes. It was kinda gross and creepy because it was tough to get it off (until I realised I could scrape it off), but other than that I don't mind them so much. Prefer them to mosquitoes because they don't leave a super annoying legacy after I get rid of them.

[Pumpkin]

I went swimming once as a child and came out COVERED in leeches. I had at least 10 on me. I hate them so much now.

[Calliope]

Millions of leeches, leeches for me

[Shorty]

Leeches scare me D:

[Pike]

If they have those here, I have never seen one.

[Chemical]

I am not going to go out of my way to don them like they're the big trend on Milan's fashion week runway... but I like them. They have a practical application in medicine returning/establishing blood flow to dismembered digits and other body parts.

[fire_of_avalon]

I wouldn't make out with one but they aren't on my "critters we hates" list.

[Agent Proto]

Leeches are pretty cool, actually. Especially when used for health purposes, like treating wounds. They can be useful in that way!

[Raistlin]

I wouldn't make out with one but they aren't on my "critters we hates" list.

This, basically. I'm far from fond of them, but I don't hate them as much as many other creatures (see: spiders, wasps).

[Denmark]

poor Gendry

[Loony BoB]

poor Gendry

Ha, that was my first thought upon seeing this thread, too.