Attacked by Leeches- TMI Photos

[LotsofLeeches]

My friend and I went on a 3 day remote area hike in tropical Australia. We are experienced hikers and normally deal with leeches in a sensible manner.

This was something else- on our 3rd day hiking out, we experienced a leech attack of biblical proportions- we actually couldn’t stop to remove them because every 10 we got off, 20 more would climb on while we were stationary. We couldn’t sit down anywhere as they were just oozing out of the ground. The track was very overgrown so our legs and torsos and heads were constantly brushing against foilage, letting the fuckers get all over us.

My friend had them in her mouth. I had them deep inside my eyelid- twice. Friend acted as an emergency medic and heroically tweezered them out. Sadly we don’t have a photo of this as we were already at maximum freak-out.

Enjoy the photos of our leechy legs.

Oh my God

A couple more.

Ok eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww. This is too sporny for me

Woooow! That is insane.

Was it very painful? Does a leech attack have the potential to be life threatening?

Holy fuck

I'm not looking at the photos, your description was enough 😫

How are you? You must be traumatised (yes, the word is overused, but this would be genuinely traumatising to me).

New fear unlocked.

Not really, although it could contribute to dying of exposure, I suppose. My bites have gotten infected so I am on antibiotics- here they are 3 days later.

Bdellophobia

We have nothing positive to say about the hike.

I’m sure I read that leeches have an anaesthetic bite. You don’t feel them bite you.

If the are in jungle type terrain and there are loads of them, what would be their usual prey?

It must have seemed fantastic to them when they spies you and your mate and made a mad dash foe you!

'Humans! Let's paaaaarty!!!'

You can’t feel them bite but sometimes can feel them crawling up your legs. I certainly felt the two in my eye, but that is because you can feel any foreign body in your eyes. But the itching now is insane.

My friend and I discussed this at length. Given we were the only insane people on the track, what do they normally eat? We saw 3 wild pigs but they are not native to Australia. We figured that for every 100,000 leeches, only 1 would get to find something warm blooded and continue the life cycle.

OMG! How did you manage to get them off in the end?

With difficulty. They do drop off once full but no-one wants to wait for that. They are detirmined and sticky and it can take multiple flicks and scrapes to remove them. You sort of have to get your nail under them or sprinkle them with salt.

Oh my effing god. This is next level spornery

They get through the weave of socks. My friend had a whole rosette of leeches on her ankle. One got through the sock weave, and as it inflated, others got through the same hole.

That should put off a few people from their dream of immigrating to Australia!🇦🇺 I mean apart from the poisonous spiders and snakes.

@LotsofLeeches i write a daily gratitude diary. Your leeches will be in it tonight. Thank you ♥️

JFC. Haven’t dared look at the pictures but just the thought of this is making me feel faint with the gip. That’ll teach me to idly scroll MN at breakfast time on a Sunday - I’ve gone from someone’s wedding dilemma to a dripping leechy fkn outback horror show in one click 😂

Hope you’re ok, OP!

Did nobody mention leeches before the hike?

This will live in my mind forever.

Omg in your eyes and mouth too!! Has it put you off hiking in tropical areas? I bet you were terrified to stand still/rest for any length of time.