#Hirudo verbana

[all-consuming-rot]

my pet yelling L

[hogteeth]

Glubby feast with rain asmr lol

I'm not making the same mistake of feeding them all at once again hah

I love their pattern

[compoundfracturez]

Giovanni. (He/him)

Hirudo verbana, anypony? Paired with Dandy + other doodles/ocs by my wonderful partner Rainbow.

Original design by Venet on toyhouse !!

[preventthetoast]

based hirudo pfp

thanks! its specifically H. Verbana

[xalatath]

The squirmerrr

[mlimby]

Neva posted these

[lolothesilly]

OUGH so i just typed out a bunch of fun facts about leeches....

tw for discussion of blood, disease transmission, & animal defecation!

most species of leech dont feed on humans, they tend to be very specialized to feed on a specific animal (often fish and amphibians!)

some leeches dont drink blood at all & instead are carnivores eating things like earthworms or slugs!!

its not very likely to get a serious illness from a leech even in the wild because of the way their mouthparts work, the most likely way to get a bloodborne disease from a leech is actually to grab it and yank it off bc that may make it regurgitate the blood in its tummy out of stress!! it is however entirely possible for the bite itself to get infected bc wild leeches tend to live in pond or swamp water which isnt known for being sanitary lol, so if you are bitten by a wild leech definitely clean the wound as best you can, apply pressure, and seek medical assistance just in case!!

the best way to remove a leech is to run your fingernail (or a credit card or similar thin sturdy water-resistant material) under the edge of its face, bc it latches on using a suction cup (like an octopus! there's a suction cup on its face & one on the end of its tail! the face is on the narrower end btw, the fat end is its big ol butt <3) so if you gently break the suction seal it'll just fall off!

leech "bites" can bleed a lot bc their saliva has anticoagulant properties, so leeches are the most dangerous to ppl who have hemophilia or another bleeding disorder!!

leeches dont really have fangs, they have a tiny Y-shaped jaw with microscopic "teeth", almost like a weird little saw, and they use that to break the skin & use their suction cup to latch onto the tiny wound and just sort of free-feed as the blood flows out!!

they also dont drink a huge amount of blood tbh, especially if its just one of them (though they do tend to live in large groups), but the anticoagulant can cause you to bleed (not gushing, more like a steady leak?) for hours after the leech lets go, so its good to apply pressure with clean bandages after being bit!!

leeches are used in medicine to this day!!

you can also keep them as pets, theyre one of the few truly low-maintenance animals, they just need dechlorinated water, some gravel (for rubbing against to help shed their skin), a hidey hole or two, & for their water to be cleaned every so often!! they can live in surprisingly small enclosures, but it definitely doesnt hurt to give them space to explore :) they do also prefer darkness though, so its best to make sure they're shaded from any bright lights or windows!!

leeches like to live with other leeches!!! they will actually curl up together and at least one study has shown that they release oxytocin when "cuddling" with each other (the same brain chemical that's released when, for example, a mother cuddles her baby!!)

its generally ok to keep leeches of the same species together, they arent likely to attack each other unless one of them is full of warm blood & another is hungry!! this is why its best to feed your leeches around the same time & if one refuses to eat, keep it in a separate tank from the ones that have eaten until the full ones defecate and/or the empty one eats!!

adult Hirudo verbana (the modern "medicinal leech" bc the similar, historically used Hirudo medicinalis is endangered) can feed as infrequently as once or twice a year!! they'll digest their meal over a long period of time and (if i recall correctly?) tend to defecate it all at once!! it'll be pretty obvious when your leech does a poop (they'll release dark fluid into the water, this is just whats left of the blood once it nutrients have been absorbed) so clean their water as soon as you notice that xP

some leech owners feed them their own blood, but others will buy unsalted (important!! salt can kill them!!) pork blood from butchers or some deli markets, put that blood in a plastic bag or sausage casing, and warm it up in a bowl of warm water & let the leeches feed on that!!

Hirudo verbana are more colorful than you might think! they have patterns along their back in varying shades of orange, dark green, and brown, while their bellies are a lighter tan color!!

ok ill stop now hehe >w<

[cuddledot]

hey riley what do you think of that ant species that can manually explode itself

Ok, I think they're fucking cool, they're now gonna be added on a list of favorite guys that Explode (Bombardier Beetle, Termites, etc) but also their fucking name is so funny. Colobopsis explodens.....She colo on my bopsis until I explodens

[i-identify-spongebob-caps]

Season 11, Episode 3B - There's a Sponge in My Soup

I’ll miss you

[whalesbone]

carmilla would be a beautiful name for a baby Hirudo verbana parasitic leech

[bogleech]

Medicinal leeches (Hirudo verbana) flopping around their giant temporary jar (they may be too big for it now) This is how big they got after feeding exactly three times in their lives. Before the first feeding they were one centimeter long. They go up in size sometimes 1000% or more after one meal.

[gribbo]

It seems silly, somehow, to split up just to bathe in the stream—as if they're blushing acolytes, as if hearing each other's thoughts is less revealing than glimpsing each other's bodies. Yet the men splash far downriver—the wizard's voice whines through the rushes, complaining of the cold—while Shadowheart, hunched on the bank half a league off, wrings blood and illithid slime out of her hair. Lady of Sorrows, she has so much hair. She remembers how to rebraid it, but not who taught her.

It must not matter, she thinks. She bends like a supplicant and floats her hair in the water. Vally, who'd saved her from that pod, backstrokes by.

"Toffs," she says with a lopsided grin, glancing back at the men's noise. She'd gashed her cheek open in the crash. She prods the sore spot with her tongue as if Shadowheart thinking it had reminded her—probably it had—then rights herself, dripping, and throws back the draggle of her curls. It whips her shoulder with a wet slap. "You and misself, though, we might get by."

Shadowheart's hands snag in a tangle. Pain is sacred, she remembers; she yanks it out. "Might."

She feels those eyes—gentle, thoughtful, too trustworthy by far—like she feels the moon's insulting glow. "Might be quicker to put your head under."

"Really?" It would be quicker. The thought of it makes her shiver, which makes her sharp. "When I need your advice, I'll let you know."

There's no reproach in the silence that follows—only a cricket's chirp, the rustle of sleeping leaves, the soft splash of Vally ducking under again. Shadowheart feels the wordless shape of her mind, stronger and more solid for its closeness: the amusement that tickles like the reeds, the water closing around her in a cool, living rush. She has to quest out for the three downstream, the minstrel and the magistrate and Gale, who blur into one mass of disgruntled thought—

What was that—

Probably Hirudo verbana—

Don't cast spells at me—a leech? You mean a bloody leech—oh, no, no, no, no more parasites, thank you—

Shadowheart, curtained in wet hair, catches the laugh as it comes out. The hand pressed to her mouth tastes of the Chionthar: silty and bitter, like some medicinal wine. Not even Astarion had wanted to camp in the ruin. Back to the strid, Vally had said with that misshapen smile.

"Vally," she calls, unthinking. She rakes back her hair. The last of its filth swirls downstream.

The water parts. A fey and freckled face, floating upside-down, breaks Shadowheart's reflection.

"I should have thanked you properly," she says—then stills, wary, and waits. Her hand twinges, but only that. She feels abruptly as though she's the one floating. "For saving my life."

Vally's impish brows go up. "You did thank me—"

Shadowheart touches her flayed cheek. It's cold as the river. When she lifts her hand, the wound has knitted to a scar.

[hogteeth]

Shlip shlorp

[dragonheadskilax]

What kind of leech do you have? It's so cute

Just the common hirudo verbana!

:J

[preventthetoast]

I’ve done like an hour and a half of research. Does anyone know what verbana as in Hirudo verbana means? The closest I could get was maybe verbena but I don’t think that makes much sense.

[flipchild]

Real ones remember when I had a pet leech.