Cooling off in the lake? Here's how to handle leeches
Here's why you shouldn't pour salt on a leech.
There are 45 species of leeches across Canada.
Brenna Fraser of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History Curator of Zoology tells me they're more active in warmer weather, and they're most active at night.
Leeches can generally be found in shallow water attached to rocks or vegetation along the shore.
When I was a kid, we used to keep salt nearby in case we got the leeches on to help sprinkle it on and get them off, but it turns out, salt only makes matters worse.
“When you do that, leeches have a reaction that they’ll actually vomit," Brenna says.
"That’s the one time you could get an infection from a leech."
Preserved leeches at NS Museum of Natural History (Nathan Coleman)
She says the best way to get rid of leeches is to take a credit card or something firm and break the suction they have against your skin.
Or you could just leave them and let them come off naturally.
Unlike ticks, they don’t transmit diseases, but you should still clean any wound with antibiotics.
Wearing stockings or socks when swimming is another alternative to keep leeches away.
Leech in water (Brenna Fraser)
Brenna says back in the 1800’s, an English inventor and meteorologist attempted to use leeches to predict weather.
“George Merryweather noticed leeches became very active when a storm was coming and they started to go up to the top of their vials," she says.
"They would disrupt a piece of baleen which was at the top which would shake a string and ring a bell so you’d have bell ringing weather leeches.”
The concept was never scientifically validated.