What are the requirements for leech (leech) breeding? What species are good for breeding in 2019?

Leeches, that is, leeches, are mainly used as medicine, with the effects of treating stroke, hypertension, clearing blood stasis, amenorrhea, falling injury and so on. Because the wild is relatively few, and the market demand is large, mainly rely on artificial breeding. So, what are the requirements for leech breeding?

A brief introduction to leeches!

1. What are leeches afraid of?

The leech is afraid of salt, because it is a mollusk and has no skin protection, so it is very sensitive to salt. after sprinkling salt, the salt and its body fluids form a high concentration of saline, which will make it stress contraction, promote its internal body fluid extravasation, leading to its dehydration and death.

2. Do leeches hibernate?

Hirudo has the habit of hibernating in winter, when the temperature is lower than 10 ℃, it goes into hibernation, does not eat or move during hibernation, and has strong survival ability; if it is in the north, the hibernation time is more than half a year, and in Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, the hibernation time is only 1-3 months.

Second, what are the requirements for leech breeding?

Leeches have strong vitality, rough and easy to grow, and are very easy to manage, but attention should be paid to water quality, water temperature, bait, anti-escape and so on.

1, water quality requirements: leeches do not have strict requirements on water quality, and can also grow in polluted water, but the density of artificial breeding is high, and the water quality is better to keep clean, it is necessary to ensure a certain amount of dissolved oxygen; if there is a special rotten smell and stench, water should be changed or poured into the pool to clean up in time to prevent a large number of leeches from dying.

2. Water temperature requirements: the suitable temperature for the growth of leeches is 15-30 ℃, too low to stop feeding, too high affect growth, therefore, it is necessary to maintain a suitable temperature. If in winter, leeches will go into hibernation, it is necessary to ensure that the species of leeches survive the winter safely, and if the water temperature is high from July to August, we should pay attention to changing water properly.

3. Feeding requirements: the bait of leeches is mainly freshwater snails, earthworms and some insects, which can be supplemented with the blood and viscera of all kinds of animals. When feeding, attention should be paid to interval feeding and timely removal of residual bait and blood coagulation, so as not to pollute and corrupt the water quality and affect the growth of leeches.

4, anti-escape requirements: the escape ability of leeches is still very strong, therefore, anti-escape facilities are essential, you can set up anti-escape ditches in the pool ridge, built with bricks, the ditch is 12 cm wide and 8 cm high, live with a dense net or sprinkle some lime in the ditch when it rains, to prevent escape.

Third, what kind of leeches are good to raise in 2019?

Leech is a common aquatic animal, there are more than 300 species scattered all over the world, and there are 116 species in China, but there are not many with medicinal value. There are three kinds of leeches commonly used in medicine, that is, wide-body leeches, Japanese medical leeches and sharp-skinned leeches.

1. Wide-body golden leeches: 6-13 cm long and 0.8-2 cm wide, slightly spindle-shaped, dark green on the back and yellowish on the ventral side; live in paddy fields, rivers and lakes, do not suck blood, feed on the larvae of plankton, small insects, molluscs and mud humus in the water; it has strong viability and is dormant in inshore wet mud in winter.

2. Japanese medical leeches: the body length is 3-5 cm, the width is 4-5 mm, it is slightly cylindrical, the back is green with black, and the ventral surface is gray-green; it lives in paddy fields and swamps and absorbs human and animal blood; it has strong regenerative power and can be cut off and raised. It can be reproduced by the broken part.

3. Sharp and thin golden thread leeches: 28Mel 67mm long and 3.5Mel 8mm wide, lanceolate, brownish green on the back and light yellow on the ventral side; mostly live in paddy fields, although the underdeveloped jaws can pierce the skin, but can not suck blood, mainly feed on water earthworms and insect larvae.

Conclusion: leeches have strong vitality, coarse growth and easy growth, and are extremely easy to manage, but we should pay attention to the requirements of water quality, water temperature, bait, and anti-escape; there are many species of leeches, and there are three kinds of leeches with breeding value: wide-bodied leeches, Japanese medical leeches, and sharp and thin leeches. We can consider which kind to raise.