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Here we are, untouched forever ✨️

(Watercolor, magazine clippings // shop here)

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you know what’s wild is that all these crazy standards we hold ourselves to are things that we don’t even value in another person? like i’ve never been like “wow I love that this friend of mine is too proud to ask for help and never complains about their feelings” or “my favorite quality about this friend is that they get straight A’s and never get overwhelmed and has never told me about a problem” or “i love that this friend has never been wrong about anything or slipped up and said something embarrassing once in their life” and yet here we are, pushing ourselves past our limits for and beating ourselves up over slipups of things that our friends probably wouldn’t even rank in the top 50 reasons they like us

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The official Plaguedocboi leech care guide!

I’ve been getting asked about how to take care of pet leeches a lot recently, so I figured I would put all the information together in one ultimate leech guide. Enjoy!

Leech species

One thing I’d like to clear up right away is that there’s over 600 species of leech, and many different types of them are kept as pets. The three most commonly kept types are the European medicinal leech (Hirudo verbana), the Buffalo leech/Asian medicinal leech (Hirudinaria manillensis) and the North American medicinal leech (macrobdella Decora). However, I only keep the H. verbana, so this guide will be specific to them.

Acquiring your leech

One of the first questions I get asked is “where the hell do you even buy a leech?!” Well, I got mine from Leeches.biz. You could also contact a private leech breeder and buy some directly from them. One of the first websites that pops up when you google leeches for sale is Leeches.com, but I’ve heard some negative things about them. Besides, Leeches.biz ends up being cheaper if you’re buying more than one leech.

Housing your leech

Leeches are super easy to take care of. Here’s a picture of my setup:

It’s a gallon fishbowl, about half full of water (it’s filled a bit more than usual in this photo) with cheesecloth held on by a rubber band covering the top. A tight-fitting lid is very important for leeches because they love to climb and can squeeze out through the tiniest gaps. I have gravel and moss for the leeches to burrow through. I always recommend keeping gravel with your leeches, because they need to rub against something abrasive to assist in shedding.

Unlike fish, leeches don’t need a heater or filter. They do best in cooler water and can actually crawl inside filters and get hurt! They’re truly a low-maintenance pet that you can keep in a bowl or jar. As long as you change the water about once a week, your leeches will thrive.

Feeding your leech

Yes, medicinal leeches drink blood. These aren’t pets for people who get sick at the sight of blood.

Leech keepers have two options for feeding their pet; feed them off themselves or buy blood. Each has benefits and downfalls. Let’s examine them both a little, because this is an important thing to consider if you want leeches.

Feeding your leech off yourself is usually the easiest and cheapest option. Hirudotherapy is also a surprisingly popular thing, and many people buy leeches just for this purpose. I’ve fed my leeches on me before, and it’s not as scary as it might sound. Leeches produce a natural pain killer similar to morphine, which numbs the bite and can even reduce anxiety and improve mood. However, they also produce a very powerful blood thinner, which means you’ll be bleeding for up to 12 hours. Just like any other open wound, there’s also the possibility that the bite could get infected, although complications occur in less than 2% of people who use leeches.

If you don’t feel like bleeding for 12 hours, you could also try buying blood/raw organs from butcher shops to feed your leeches. If you choose to do that, it’ll have to be heated up to body temperature to induce the leeches to bite.

The good news is, adult leeches only feed once every 4-6 months. In fact, they can go up to a year between meals. You won’t have to deal with blood on a daily basis.

Enrichment

Leeches honestly don’t need much enrichment. They’re very simple animals and are content to spend most of their day wiggling and sleeping. But you can handle your leeches whenever you want. They don’t really mind!

Handling leeches is actually very fun. They’re always changing shape and texture, and they will often “sniff” your hand when you’re taking them out. This doesn’t necessarily mean they want to bite you, it just means they’re checking you out. Just make sure to keep an eye on them when you take them out of the tank, because they’ll crawl around and explore.

Problems with your leech

Leeches are usually very healthy animals, but they can run into some issues. The main one is digestive problems. Here’s Squish Baby to demonstrate:

See the kink in his side? That means one of his crops (blood storing organs) is twisted and he can’t digest the blood inside.

These digestive problems can usually be solved by adding alder cones and/or catappa leaves (aka betta leaves) to the tank. Increasing the acidity of the water will boost the leech’s immune system and make it easier to recover from this kind of thing. (Squish Baby has made a full recovery, by the way)

FAQ

Do leeches bite every time you handle them?

Nope. If the leech isn’t hungry it won’t bite. When a leech is actively trying to feed, they aggressively “sniff” around an area before latching on, and you can pretty quickly recognize that behavior and put them down before they bite. If they do start to latch on and you don’t want them to, slide a fingernail under their front sucker and push up. They’ll immediately let go.

Doesn’t it hurt to let a leech bite you?

Not really. Some people don’t feel it at all. I do, but the pain is somewhere between a paper cut and a flu shot. It feels like pinpricks. It also depends on where you put them. For me, it was best to let them feed on my left forearm.

Do leech bites leave scars?

It depends on the location, whether you’re prone to developing scars, and how well the bite healed. My leech scars fade in about six months. But keep in mind, these are scars only about the size of a mosquito bite, so they’re not very noticeable anyway.

Should I talk to a doctor before letting leeches bite me?

Yes, you should. Not everyone is a good candidate for hirudotherapy. Additionally, some medications can hurt leeches, which is not ideal if they’re your pets.

Why buy a leech? Can’t I just get one out of a pond?

Yeah, you could. But wild leeches can carry diseases. It’s best not to have a pet that could give you a blood disease if it bites you. Leeches purchased from a breeder will have been given a very strict diet to ensure that they don’t transfer anything dangerous to their owner.

Why do leeches “dance”?

Leeches do a funky little wiggle when they want to breathe underwater. It’s very cute and frequently referred to as the “leech dance”.

I thought the European medicinal leech was called H. medicinalis?

There are actually at least three species of European medicinal leech. H. medicinalis was the one most commonly used in the past. Unfortunately, they’re now endangered due to overharvesting, and it’s illegal to keep them (unless you’re a professional leech breeder). The ones used in hospitals and most commonly available as pets now are H. verbana. If you ever see an H. medicinalis for sale, it’s almost definitely just an H. verbana mislabeled and sold for more money.

Is my leech a boy or a girl?

Both! Leeches are hermaphrodites and have both male and female parts.

How long can leeches live out of water? Should I be worried about them drying out while I’m handling them?

Leeches are almost always out of the water when feeding, and often travel over land. They’re adapted to be able to survive on dry land for hours, and if they’re in a moist area they could live out of the water for days. So unless they escape the tank and go for an unauthorized walk, you don’t need to worry about them drying out.

So there you have it! The official guide to leeches. I hope you enjoyed and learned something about their care!

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hey. don’t cry. crush three cloves of garlic into a pot with a dollop of olive oil and stir until golden then add one can of crushed tomatoes a bit of balsamic vinegar half a tablespoon of brown sugar half a cup of grated parmesan cheese and stir for a few minutes adding a handful of fresh spinach until wilted and mix in pasta of your choice ok?

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in my flop era (like how a bunny flops over when they're comfortable. thank you.)

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we need to make an add-on that gives you the dictionary definition of queerbait every time you make a post accusing a show of it because i saw someone call bowser/luigi queerbaiting and. i have officially had enough. if you hand to god thought that nintendo entertainment was going to let that lizard turtle monster raw the little green plumber guy then that is entirely your fault. i cannot help you any more.

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mmm so full and sleepy time to brush my teeth and lay in bed

phone on my bedside table: Doctors Reveal Secret Kept From Society For Years: YouTube Videos Are Stronger Than Melatonin

alarm going off in 4 hours: i love you so much i can't wait to see you i am going to sing my special song for you

guy on grindr that i ghosted 5 months ago: merry christmas 🎄 is dirty boy pig ready fuor papas sucking

cat outside my door:

rats scurrying around the decaying corpses of the inside out characters in my head: squeak squeek squeak squeak swueak squeak

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idk im really tired of 15-17 year olds who have never interacted with the gay community irl and spend too much time on tiktok trying to act like the authority on all that is lgbt+ 

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extremely extremely tiring to be around people who just vehemently hate themselves. nobody benefits from you acting like this. cruelty to the self is still cruelty. if i was at an art gallery admiring a piece by van gogh or in a library reading a beautiful poem and you walked up to me and went Ewww thats so bad... you think its good? youre wrong its really bad :/ you would be a certified piece of fucking shit it is not different just bc its your creation instead of someone else's. if a stranger walked up to me and started ranting about how they thought my friend was annoying and ugly i would punch them in the gut. it is not different just because you are saying this about yourself. nobody wants to hear it

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you know I couldn't be a cowboy because I'd be stuck with my partner in the dead cold prairie night and our horses would be tied up and we'd be huddlin around a crudely made fire because it was too far to go back to the ranch and he'd play the sweetest song on his harmonica, the kind that you felt in your bones and your heart and that the hymns had nothin on, and then he'd finish and we'd both lean in a little too close and my hand would be on his bandanna and his whiskey-breath would be hot on my lips and I'd realize that maybe it wasn't the touch of a woman i'd been hankerin for

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“He doesn’t like to cuddle. He likes to grip my hips and pull the fibers of pink tissue in shreds from my lip with his teeth. He throws his hands in the air like a messiah and leans his head out the open window. easy. breathe. codeine. breeze. We laugh loudly and kiss loudly and moan loudly. He mouths vulgar things that make me giggle in front of our friends. I run my hand along the seam off his tight black jeans beneath the table top. He rolls his eyes and smirks at me. We take every opportunity to touch, to feel, so secretly. So public. Exhibitionist pleasure. We play like children, tousling my hair and I climb on his back. We roll spliff after spliff and talk rapidly and vigorously and trip over each others sentences like a sidewalk crack. He says “us” like it means “amen” and his eyes burn wild with a fire of passion. We get drunk. Off of wine and skin and things we love. His smile erupts across his face like it could shatter his cheekbones. His eyes glimmer like a lake catching the glare of the moonlight. A glint of silver is growing up the side of his hairline. He thinks it makes him look distinguished. I laugh and agree. He loves to be so much older than me. He thinks it makes him wise. We spend a lot of time in hotel rooms with the doors shut. (We spend a lot of time outside of hotel rooms with our mouths shut.) He thinks the Xanax makes the sex last longer and I don’t argue. I always wake up first. I sit at the desk and work quietly and glance at him in the sheets. Vulnerable and quiet. Soft face. Soft sounds. A warm cup of coffee and marmalade light through the windows. We bond over love for our brothers. We fight over where the chord change should go. We tease, oh we tease. He likes clean socks and messy hair and he runs his fingers down my overall straps with a tigers grin. He writes his name in the fog on the mirror from where he grabbed a fistful of my hair and pressed my face against the glass. He loves soul music. We sing confidently and triumphantly. I tap my fingers like spiders legs across his bare chest and undo his buttons one by one. I toss my head back and laugh maniacally and pout my lips when he won’t be fair. He speaks like a pastor and trips over his words, his tongue struggles to meet his brain. That’s how a prodigy thinks. (Or it’s the drugs). He knows when my words are about him and he lets it all go to his head and I don’t care because I love to watch him love himself. We laugh and fuck and play and write and plot and say goodbye and never worry. He is my occasional constant. A parody of himself. A paradox of ever present and transparent. I don’t care what he is.”

— Halsey talking about Matty Healy

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i think the concept of a software install wizard is so cute… developers know the average person isnt comfortable running terminal commands so theyre like here!!! this wizard will do it for you <3 and we’re all like yay :) the wizard

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🍓Strawberry jam sweater vest🍓

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Maybe I’ll color it eventually