(No, I am not talking about offensive men,) I am talking about those slimy wormy black blood sucking things in lake water that attach/stick themselves to you.
I have heard about using a cigarette, and also about rubbing salt on them. I have used a cigarette before and it did work(they did fall off eventually, at least I thought it worked as far as I could see/tell at the time.
I saw a movie where Humphry Bogart or somebody used salt to remove them.
Then I later heard that you should not/never use a cigarette to remove them, as they might leave still their teeth in you when they fall off if heat is used.
So, what is the best way/easiest way to get them(all of them including their teeth) off?
I think the best way to avoid further discomfort is to simply let them suck their fill and they will then release without causing more discomfort like the other actions you noted.
I don’t know if Red Cross approves the methods or not, but there are three ways to get rid of leeches as far as I’m concerned. Pull them off directly, use a knife to “shave” them off, of to use a flame until they fall off. They bleeding will continue no matter which way you do it because of the anticoaglulants, but at least the nasty bastards with be off of you.
Leeches. Great bait, but disgusting as hell when attached to your body.
Thanks for the link, but it does not say exactly how to apply the salt or salt water or vinigar. do you put salt on the leech’s body, or just around his moutn where he is sucking. pour the vinigar on the leech? How much salt? How much vinigar? (No real " how-to instructions" here at that link)
I also saw on the Discovery channel, where they sometimes use maggots and leeches in hospitals now, for special cases where they want dead flesh eaten, or blood taken out, but they did not show how the hospitals/doctors get them off.
I guess there is no way to get a leech off of your back if you are alone( of can you pour vinigar down your back?
No, the need is not immediate, but when it warms up, we sometimes go swimming in waters that have leeches, and I want a better/easier way to get them off than cigarettes.
This was in The African Queen. Bogey comes out of the river covered in leeches, Katherine Hepburn freaks out for a few seconds, then they clean him off by rubbing salt on the “little beggars.”
To his credit as an actor, Bogart didn’t fake being all manly-man. He was calm enough, but shuddering like crazy, as I think most men would be.
To me the creepiest leech scene in a movie was in Stand By Me.
The kids all go swimming in a pond in their underwear and come out covered with leeches. They understandably freak and rip them off. One of the kids (the one who went on to play Wesley Crusher in ST:TNG) pauses a moment then slowly looks down and pulls the waistband of his underwear away from him and looks at his crotch…his eyes slowly widening in horror.
At that point he passes out…I think I would too.
I like to think I am manly-man as much as most guys but leeches give me the creeps and shuddering like crazy is exactly what I do (for one leech it is a little shudder and passes…more leeches = more shuddering).
My experience with leeches is that using a knife to shave them off is quick and easy. The OP asked where to put the vinegar - just saturate them in the stuff. They’ll fall off.
I always used a match to burn them off. You light a match and touch it right to their backs–they recoil and let go right away. You still bleed a while, but you get that no matter what. I’d be worried that “shaving” them off would leave some part of them inside me; I understand that some leaches extend mouth-tube-things a bit into you. I dunno if any where I live do this, but some tropical ones do and I’d rather just have one easy solution no matter where I go…
~
It’s pretty damn leachy in the sub tropical rainforest around here.
WARNING: TMI ALERT
A friend of mine woke up one morning with a leach on his eyeball. I kid you not.
Getting them off: insect repellent (anything with DEET in it works, other stuff may do also) salt or a match.
I don’t recommend the knife method. Too much chance that you will shave off the body but leave some mouthparts attached.
Susannan you are being over scientific about this as regards technique. Just rub some salt or insect repellent on the little bastards. A dab. They will come off instantly.