Feeding/Keeping Leaches

I’ve learned to use melted bags of ice for water. Rinse and change their water at least 1 to 2 times a week.

Any thing I could do to keep leaches for long term?
What do they feed on to make them grow up to be “Tony the Tigers”?

Contrary to popular belief, not all of them are bloodsuckers. In fact, many of
them are sit-and-wait predators and feed on a variety of different invertebrates
such as insects (gnats, mosquito larvae, water bugs), oligochaetes (both
aquatic blackworms and their terrestrial cousins, the earthworms), amphipods
(side swimmers), and lots of different kinds of molluscs including pond snails
and freshwater clams. These predacious leeches are either engulfers (ie. they
swallow their prey whole) or they are equipped with a protrusible proboscis
which resembles a hypodermic needle. When not in use, the proboscis is
retracted into the mouth, but when a leech has located a prey item, the
proboscis pops out of the mouth and the leech uses it to spear its prey and
then, once the prey is subdued, the leech uses the hollow proboscis like a soda
straw and sucks up the juices of its prey.
Conserve Habitats

Ya, ribbon leaches are not blood suckers an assortment of insects worms and what nots for trial.

Keep in mind leeches are on a 2 year cycle. Those jumbo leeches you buy in the spring are due to expire in the late summer. Their growth rate I would say a season to mature so feeding them I dont think you will see much in results.

Though if you start early in the season by mid summer you would get baby leaches No Really, the pounds we trapped this spring ended up with pods on the sides of the tank then later we had babies.

Ive still got quite a few and thought of using them on LOW next month. I figure they will not all be used and have thoughts of trying to keep them alive for kicks and grins just to see if I can. Wondering how to feed them. I take it there isn’t anything that I just can sprinkle into the water like you would do for an aquarium. I have them in a Frabil hinged lid small bait bucket into the basement fridge. Again changing out the water every couple of days with melted bags of ice.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I buy leaches in May by the pound for a LOW trip. Left overs go into a icecream bucket with a 1/4″ of washed sand on the bottom. Change the water 7 to 10 days wih filtered water. Keep them in the frig. Just used the last of em two weeks ago. They need the sand to clean themselfs.

Ok great info, anykind of sand?

Filtered water = melted store bought bagged ice for me, correct?

Won’t the poor little devils starve??

You could easily keep them for a month or two in the fridge, but what do they look like when you pull them out of the fridge? The just lay there not moving at all, or curled up in a ball. That is exactly what they will look like when you dunk them in that cold water. They are a warm water animal, and that is why we use them in the warm water months, that is when they are the most active. A balled up leech, or one that just lays there stiff is not going to catch fish. That is why we dont use them in cold water months.

Quote:

---

Ok great info, anykind of sand?

Filtered water = melted store bought bagged ice for me, correct?

Won’t the poor little devils starve??

---

Store bought ice is frozen filtered water, so yes it would be the same. The sand would just be typical river sand… grab some out of the lake/river/stream, or steal it out of someones sandbag. You can run it through one of those wire mesh sifters if you want just the sand and no rocks.

I keep mine in a cooler with well water that is on a timer and feed them crappie minnows. They will eat them up pretty fast so I put a couple dozen at a time. Never have kept them over winter through. I buy couple pounds when the super jumbos are available.

Run&Gun,
Timer for an aireator? How much water do you keep a pound of leaches in? How often do you fing you have to change their water?

It’s a 100 quart cooler but I don’t think you need it that big. I have a well water that has a sprinkler timer that puts in fresh water in every eight hours and runs for 5 minutes.
http://www.orbitonline.com/products/Timers/02/01/23/1727/
I have a over flow valve so when the water reaches the top of the cooler it drains out the hole. You must put a screen on the over flow hole or they swim out. It’s nice because I never have to mess with them. Plus if you put them in the frig in a small container they like to cannibalize on each other. The leeches I get and keep are really healthy and really active bait. Another thing is city water is hard on them so I drove a well point and put a jet pump with tank in. http://www.simerpumps.com/ResidentialSearchResults.aspx?Term=1/2%20HP%20Cast%20Iron%20Shallow%20Well%20Jet%20Pump%20/%20Tank%20Combo

Cannibalizing on each other is exactly why I was asking about feeding them!
You say minnows, a dozen per pound per how long?
Maybe I need to get them into something larger?
Do you think that an aerator is important?

Once there gone I add more minnows usually maybe twice a month. The only thing left of the minnows will be bony matter. I don’t think you need a aerator if you are adding fresh water in regularly. The water that comes out of my well is pretty cold(60degrees) so with it being cold it has a lot of oxygen in it already. A 50 quart cooler would be plenty big.

Thanks, I may need to shift gears.