Leeches

[David]

This thread is directed primarily at marmot, but if anyone else has been 'leeched' feel free to reply!
Anyway, I hear that leaches were a fairly everyday problem... how unpleasent really was it, and how did you deal with them? I hear for example that the cigarette/ember method is a bad idea...

[Emanresu]

Eat them. Get your own back.

[Marmot]

I was told about someone who had done just that!

The first time you get them it is a huge eeeuuuuughhhhh! Get it off me! But after that it a, gets into a routine, walked through river, check legs, feel something on arms, check arms, but also b, you get non plussed. If theyre on your hand you wait for the right moment (when theyre halfway through moving, bent - like how a caterpillar moves - and then you flick it. Aiming at whoever and whatever you like.
If theyre on your leg you just grab them and through them away, hardly breaking stride.

Most of the time you wont feel them as they injec an analgesic - pain killer so that you dont feel them bite, its only when they move that you can feel them.

On the other hand tigre leeches - recougnised due to the yellow stripe on an otherwise black body doesnt inject an analgesic and you can really feel those buggers biting into you

[motted orange green]

Medicated oil, if you have some. Just put a few drops of that onto a leech and it'll curl up and drop off your leg/hand/face. hehe.

I'm not too keen on the pulling method as teeth of the leech might be left in whichever part of your body they were biting.

[m011i3]

A Friend in need is a Friend inde ...pain in the arse
Or - a problem shared is a problem doubled :-~

Wear the right clothing in the right place and leeches should'nt present a problem.

[carbon]

unlike the common myth with ticks that a flame will get them off...with leeches i think it is possible to do this...leeches are almost like slugs so will contract and curl-up

[Marmot]

the down side to using a flame to remove leaches is your usually covered in DEET - highly flamable!

[insane_climber]

but at least they all go up in smoke at once