shark vs the universe
occasionally subtle
🪼
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
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d e v o n
trying on a metaphor
roma★
DEAR READER
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
dirt enthusiast
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
KIROKAZE
h
Cosmic Funnies
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
No title available
YOU ARE THE REASON
Monterey Bay Aquarium
seen from Malaysia
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@plutotothepleiades
horny art is awesome and i think every pervert with an odd and obscure fetish who draws their own porn is a hero
“erm this artist’s style is a little weird…im worried that they might draw fetish art in private…” ok awesome i hope so. i wish Michelangelo painted inflation vore Mario in the sistine chapel instead of boring church shit. who fucking cares !!!!
it's because you're always on that damn vibrator
ibuprofen is my boyfriend ibuprofen is a god ibuprofen is the breeze in my hair on the weekend ibuprofen’s a relaxing thought
has YOUR favorite fictional woman over the age of 30 experienced fandom misogyny from people who are mad at Their Mom From Real Life? call our offices, toll-free, day or night. we're the nation's #1 law firm that specializes in defending adult women who make choices and have character traits. if the prosecution has started calling her a selfish bitch, pick up the phone today!!!
Excuse me, does your firm also represent women under thirty who experience fandom misogyny from people who are mad at That Girl From College/Work/High School?
we take those cases pro fucking bono
Here we are, untouched forever ✨️
(Watercolor, magazine clippings // shop here)
you know what’s wild is that all these crazy standards we hold ourselves to are things that we don’t even value in another person? like i’ve never been like “wow I love that this friend of mine is too proud to ask for help and never complains about their feelings” or “my favorite quality about this friend is that they get straight A’s and never get overwhelmed and has never told me about a problem” or “i love that this friend has never been wrong about anything or slipped up and said something embarrassing once in their life” and yet here we are, pushing ourselves past our limits for and beating ourselves up over slipups of things that our friends probably wouldn’t even rank in the top 50 reasons they like us
The official Plaguedocboi leech care guide!
I’ve been getting asked about how to take care of pet leeches a lot recently, so I figured I would put all the information together in one ultimate leech guide. Enjoy!
Leech species
One thing I’d like to clear up right away is that there’s over 600 species of leech, and many different types of them are kept as pets. The three most commonly kept types are the European medicinal leech (Hirudo verbana), the Buffalo leech/Asian medicinal leech (Hirudinaria manillensis) and the North American medicinal leech (macrobdella Decora). However, I only keep the H. verbana, so this guide will be specific to them.
Acquiring your leech
One of the first questions I get asked is “where the hell do you even buy a leech?!” Well, I got mine from Leeches.biz. You could also contact a private leech breeder and buy some directly from them. One of the first websites that pops up when you google leeches for sale is Leeches.com, but I’ve heard some negative things about them. Besides, Leeches.biz ends up being cheaper if you’re buying more than one leech.
Housing your leech
Leeches are super easy to take care of. Here’s a picture of my setup:
It’s a gallon fishbowl, about half full of water (it’s filled a bit more than usual in this photo) with cheesecloth held on by a rubber band covering the top. A tight-fitting lid is very important for leeches because they love to climb and can squeeze out through the tiniest gaps. I have gravel and moss for the leeches to burrow through. I always recommend keeping gravel with your leeches, because they need to rub against something abrasive to assist in shedding.
Unlike fish, leeches don’t need a heater or filter. They do best in cooler water and can actually crawl inside filters and get hurt! They’re truly a low-maintenance pet that you can keep in a bowl or jar. As long as you change the water about once a week, your leeches will thrive.
Feeding your leech
Yes, medicinal leeches drink blood. These aren’t pets for people who get sick at the sight of blood.
Leech keepers have two options for feeding their pet; feed them off themselves or buy blood. Each has benefits and downfalls. Let’s examine them both a little, because this is an important thing to consider if you want leeches.
Feeding your leech off yourself is usually the easiest and cheapest option. Hirudotherapy is also a surprisingly popular thing, and many people buy leeches just for this purpose. I’ve fed my leeches on me before, and it’s not as scary as it might sound. Leeches produce a natural pain killer similar to morphine, which numbs the bite and can even reduce anxiety and improve mood. However, they also produce a very powerful blood thinner, which means you’ll be bleeding for up to 12 hours. Just like any other open wound, there’s also the possibility that the bite could get infected, although complications occur in less than 2% of people who use leeches.
If you don’t feel like bleeding for 12 hours, you could also try buying blood/raw organs from butcher shops to feed your leeches. If you choose to do that, it’ll have to be heated up to body temperature to induce the leeches to bite.
The good news is, adult leeches only feed once every 4-6 months. In fact, they can go up to a year between meals. You won’t have to deal with blood on a daily basis.
Enrichment
Leeches honestly don’t need much enrichment. They’re very simple animals and are content to spend most of their day wiggling and sleeping. But you can handle your leeches whenever you want. They don’t really mind!
Handling leeches is actually very fun. They’re always changing shape and texture, and they will often “sniff” your hand when you’re taking them out. This doesn’t necessarily mean they want to bite you, it just means they’re checking you out. Just make sure to keep an eye on them when you take them out of the tank, because they’ll crawl around and explore.
Problems with your leech
Leeches are usually very healthy animals, but they can run into some issues. The main one is digestive problems. Here’s Squish Baby to demonstrate:
See the kink in his side? That means one of his crops (blood storing organs) is twisted and he can’t digest the blood inside.
These digestive problems can usually be solved by adding alder cones and/or catappa leaves (aka betta leaves) to the tank. Increasing the acidity of the water will boost the leech’s immune system and make it easier to recover from this kind of thing. (Squish Baby has made a full recovery, by the way)
FAQ
Do leeches bite every time you handle them?
Nope. If the leech isn’t hungry it won’t bite. When a leech is actively trying to feed, they aggressively “sniff” around an area before latching on, and you can pretty quickly recognize that behavior and put them down before they bite. If they do start to latch on and you don’t want them to, slide a fingernail under their front sucker and push up. They’ll immediately let go.
Doesn’t it hurt to let a leech bite you?
Not really. Some people don’t feel it at all. I do, but the pain is somewhere between a paper cut and a flu shot. It feels like pinpricks. It also depends on where you put them. For me, it was best to let them feed on my left forearm.
Do leech bites leave scars?
It depends on the location, whether you’re prone to developing scars, and how well the bite healed. My leech scars fade in about six months. But keep in mind, these are scars only about the size of a mosquito bite, so they’re not very noticeable anyway.
Should I talk to a doctor before letting leeches bite me?
Yes, you should. Not everyone is a good candidate for hirudotherapy. Additionally, some medications can hurt leeches, which is not ideal if they’re your pets.
Why buy a leech? Can’t I just get one out of a pond?
Yeah, you could. But wild leeches can carry diseases. It’s best not to have a pet that could give you a blood disease if it bites you. Leeches purchased from a breeder will have been given a very strict diet to ensure that they don’t transfer anything dangerous to their owner.
Why do leeches “dance”?
Leeches do a funky little wiggle when they want to breathe underwater. It’s very cute and frequently referred to as the “leech dance”.
I thought the European medicinal leech was called H. medicinalis?
There are actually at least three species of European medicinal leech. H. medicinalis was the one most commonly used in the past. Unfortunately, they’re now endangered due to overharvesting, and it’s illegal to keep them (unless you’re a professional leech breeder). The ones used in hospitals and most commonly available as pets now are H. verbana. If you ever see an H. medicinalis for sale, it’s almost definitely just an H. verbana mislabeled and sold for more money.
Is my leech a boy or a girl?
Both! Leeches are hermaphrodites and have both male and female parts.
How long can leeches live out of water? Should I be worried about them drying out while I’m handling them?
Leeches are almost always out of the water when feeding, and often travel over land. They’re adapted to be able to survive on dry land for hours, and if they’re in a moist area they could live out of the water for days. So unless they escape the tank and go for an unauthorized walk, you don’t need to worry about them drying out.
So there you have it! The official guide to leeches. I hope you enjoyed and learned something about their care!
hey. don’t cry. crush three cloves of garlic into a pot with a dollop of olive oil and stir until golden then add one can of crushed tomatoes a bit of balsamic vinegar half a tablespoon of brown sugar half a cup of grated parmesan cheese and stir for a few minutes adding a handful of fresh spinach until wilted and mix in pasta of your choice ok?
in my flop era (like how a bunny flops over when they're comfortable. thank you.)
in my flop era (my ears are so so floppy and fluffy. thanks)
i didn't even know 2023 is year of the rabbit. lets all enter our flop era... together oxo
we need to make an add-on that gives you the dictionary definition of queerbait every time you make a post accusing a show of it because i saw someone call bowser/luigi queerbaiting and. i have officially had enough. if you hand to god thought that nintendo entertainment was going to let that lizard turtle monster raw the little green plumber guy then that is entirely your fault. i cannot help you any more.
idk im really tired of 15-17 year olds who have never interacted with the gay community irl and spend too much time on tiktok trying to act like the authority on all that is lgbt+
mean this in the kindest possible way. if you are too young and unsafe to go to your gay community center or pride here’s some ways you can connect to gay history.
the oral history project from act up
the lesbian herstory archives
the transgender archives of the university of victoria
the digital transgender archives
glbt historical society (digital)
lgbtq digital collaboratory
since it was suggested in the tags
anything that moves
the bisexual manifesto
the Samuel Proctor oral history project
a masterpost of lesile feinberg’s works by @genderoutlaws
more to come
the queer zine archive
the dyke march compilation
paris is burning
how to survive a plague
united in anger: a history of ACT UP
one archives
new york public library lgbtq archives
for today’s update:
screaming queens
a collection of audre lorde’s poetry
the arquives
dykes to watch out for
the bi woman’s quarterly (1/2)
me in the pussy if im being fully honest
i appreciate your candid tell all style approach to my posts
extremely extremely tiring to be around people who just vehemently hate themselves. nobody benefits from you acting like this. cruelty to the self is still cruelty. if i was at an art gallery admiring a piece by van gogh or in a library reading a beautiful poem and you walked up to me and went Ewww thats so bad... you think its good? youre wrong its really bad :/ you would be a certified piece of fucking shit it is not different just bc its your creation instead of someone else's. if a stranger walked up to me and started ranting about how they thought my friend was annoying and ugly i would punch them in the gut. it is not different just because you are saying this about yourself. nobody wants to hear it
fucking say something true and beautiful for once im sick of it. you know
paraphrasing my tags from another reblog chain here but this does not come from a place of ignorance. i am intimately familiar with self hatred and the mindset that leads people to talk like this and the REASON i stopped acting like a jackass and spouting this shit 24/7 is because i realized that it was not just about me. it was hurting other people. and i made the concious decision to stop doing that and to begin the proccess of training myself out of those thought patterns and out of saying that stuff. im not telling you to Just Stop but i am saying you CAN. you are not a slave to your mental illness you have agency over your life and your behaviors - your mental illness may make it more difficult to do certain things but that doesnt mean you dont have a responsibility to TRY if it's hurting other people.
One of the things that drives me away from a relationship most is if I give the other. person a compliment and they reject it.
“You’re so handsome.” “No I’m not.”
I see it and feel it the exact same way as if I said “What a beautiful sunset” and someone said “No it’s not, it’s ugly.” I was in a place of joy and you just injected something very unpleasant and life-denying into that space and that hurts.
I am here appreciating the world. You, as a human being, are part of that world. You’re a natural phenomenon and people have a right to find you beautiful and good and worthy. That is an expression of THEIR joy and enjoyment of the world. They are not incorrect.
They are expressing their aliveness and ability to perceive, they are right in the heart of what makes it worthwhile and joyful to be alive, and you should not come to that special place within someone you love and tell them it’s wrong to feel the way they feel.
I totally get that it may sound fake and ridiculous to you when someone compliments you, and it’s ok to acknowledge that. “I know you mean it when you say it, but my brain won’t let me believe it right now. But thank you. I will keep trying.”
But ultimately, the goal is to get to a place where you can just say “thank you.”
you know I couldn't be a cowboy because I'd be stuck with my partner in the dead cold prairie night and our horses would be tied up and we'd be huddlin around a crudely made fire because it was too far to go back to the ranch and he'd play the sweetest song on his harmonica, the kind that you felt in your bones and your heart and that the hymns had nothin on, and then he'd finish and we'd both lean in a little too close and my hand would be on his bandanna and his whiskey-breath would be hot on my lips and I'd realize that maybe it wasn't the touch of a woman i'd been hankerin for
yeah I'll be honest I don't know wtf possessed me here
