Eyeball-Sucking Monsters

Some people think that earthworms are gross, but that’s silly. They’re harmless! However, a relative of the earthworm is definitely bad news. Yep, I’m talking about the leech. While earthworms don’t bite, a leech can bite you twice at the same time!

That’s because the leech has two mouths. Leeches find this handy, in that all they want to do is to suck your blood. But despite the two mouths, leech bites are painless. so you probably don’t notice if a leech has attached itself to you.

Leeches range in size from tiny to over two feet long. (Ulp!) Leeches may clamp onto your legs, but they also like to swim to a dark crevice where you won’t find them, like your armpit, your butt, or worse! (No, I did not make that up. Luckily, these types of leeches are usually found in Africa, Asia, and islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans.)

If you find a leech on you, don’t cut it off of you. You could cut it in half, and it would keep sucking! In the movies, adventurers often put the lit end of a cigarette on the leech to make it let go, but since you don’t smoke, this won’t work.

The worst leech story I’ve heard is this one: An Australian woman was gardening in Sydney when she accidentally got some soil in her eye… and a small leech was in there, too. The leech started feasting on the blood from her eyeball! Even though the gardener got medical attention, the leech quickly tripled in size. Nasty!

So how did they get rid of this eyeball-sucking monster? By giving her some eyedrops of saline solution! As the doctor reported, “The leech rolled straight off, it just fell on to her cheek so we put it in a pot and gave it to her.”

Thanks, doc! (Link to the full story here.)