Doug vs. the interweb

June 16th, 2010 11:36 PM

Leeches

A lesser known aspect of housing creatures in your apartment is that you've got to deal with all the incidental hangers-on. If you've purchased your aquatic friend from MegaPets, and gave him some sterilized, pre-packaged plant product then you can be fairly confident that that is all you're getting. However, if you have no interest in that nonsense (seriously dudes, your tortoises look sickly), and catch the creatures who will then find themselves as temporary freeloaders, then you need to be prepared to deal with the "unpleasantness" of the actual world.

And in fact, the Actual World is filled with little tiny things that would just love to squirm into a dark part of you and put up shop. I am somewhat thankful that the parasites of this area are fairly tame as compared to things you might find in the Amazon (tiny fish that follow traces of urine so they can maneuver into your urethra? Dangit, nature!), but that only makes it more surprising when you do find some.

When I collect river rocks, I try to scrub them down, and soak them in hot water for a bit. I try to remove some of the more obvious egg sacks from water plants before adding them to a tank. But I know it's still somewhat futile; there's always a million little creatures that come along for the ride, no matter what I do. Various kinds of worms, countless nearly microscopic insects and larvae, snails, leeches, and what have you. A simple jar of pond water is completely fascinating in itself, with enough light and patience.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all this. Regardless! I was dissecting the musk turtle's tank yesterday, because it was rushed and didn't seem to take full advantage of the space. Plus, I had found an awesome rock: very flat, slightly curved, and long. Perfect for a ramp! And if there's anything I enjoy more than jumping around in a pond, it's arranging a tank. The rocks and gravel are my legos, and what I build will sustain life, and hopefully do a good job of it. It's thrilling to me, though as usual with personal hobbies, I am bewildered that people around me don't feel the same!

So yes-- I took the rocks out, and of course came across a previously-unknown cache of way too many leeches. Certainly, considering their ability to reproduce, one is already too many, but they were almost swarming, which was frightful. So, I ended up taking everything out and cleaning it all down, and removing all the natural plants. I think I'm just going to need to be more careful when bringing in plants, though I suppose it's possible the dudes stashed away on the turtle himself. He does have algae growing on his shell, so I wouldn't put it past the bum.

There's also a whole discussion about the ethics of caging wild animals, but I think that's better saved for a time when I can actually keep a cohesive point.