Imagine walking the trail up the mountain to your campsite, and all of a sudden, you feel a sharp pain. This is the time to check under your sleeves and legs because chances are a land leech is feeding on you. Land leech (ទាក) comes from a family of 60 members, divided into two different groups: two-jawed and three-jawed land leech. Many Cambodians know it, campers beware of it, and we are going to know some more about this creature today.
Appearance & Behavior
A land leech has 5 pairs of eyes, and the last two pairs are separated by two eyeless segments. They are very good at sneaking into your clothes and hiding there to feed on your blood. Land leeches have a small oral sucker surrounding the mouth and a larger caudal sucker at the rear end. More than that, they can also bite through cloth to get to your skin to feast. A land leech has the ability to store blood in its body for moths.
Feeding & Habitats
These terrestrial blood-sucking parasites are the residents of rainforests in Asia and around the Indo-Pacific. They are common on the ground or in low foliage in wet rainforests and moist areas in drier forests. Land leech feeds solely on blood, and a feeding session on a human can last it for the entire year. The fascinating part is that land leeches can suck blood from both its head and tail. When hunting, they wave their heads around to sense their environment using their “chemoreceptors”. When they find prey, land leeches will attach themselves and start to pierce the skin to get the blood.
Once it starts biting, it will be a challenge to remove it from your skin due to the strong grip of its jaws. You either have to wait for it to finish feeding or use a lighter to burn it until it releases its jaw. If you can handle the pain, you can use a stick to push it from your skin. The easiest methods are sprinkling salt on it or spraying alcohol on it so make sure to carry these with you.
After the bite, the site still bleeds from 3 to 5 minutes and the scar from the bite will last for a long time. The thing that you have to keep in mind is to squeeze the biting site to let out the blood. When biting, land leeches also release bacteria so squeezing the blood out is to remove the venom. This bacteria causes the bite to be dark red, itchiness, scars, or even wound infection. You should also use a bandage, band-aid, or powder on the biting site after cleaning it with water to prevent further itchiness.
How To Prevent Land Leech From Biting You
- In Cambodia, campers created a solution that everyone can easily mix and use to prevent land leeches. Mix 0.5 grams of strong tobacco with two tablespoons of salt and water, and apply the solution on your legs and exposed skin. The strong smell of tobacco will keep the land leeches from holding onto you. Some even use automotive lubricant to apply on their legs because the smelly and slipperiness can keep these parasites away.
- Another method is to make sure to tie the end of the sleeves of your shirts and pants. This is to ensure that land leeches cannot sneak in and suck your blood. If you go into a rainforest, leave no part of your skin exposed. Never ever wear shoes that expose your feet because land leeches will suck blood from your lovely toes. Wear thick socks and cover your head, and especially your ears to prevent land leeched from getting in there.
- In Indonesia, people spray lemongrass water on themselves before going into the forest. They believe that land leeches do not like the smell of lemongrass so the spray will keep them away.
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