I first encountered them intimately in the rain forests of Madagascar.
Every night, when I stepped under the waterfall in the river where I bathed, I spent the first 10 min. or so gently scraping them off my body…
…from my belly, inner thighs, the back of my neck, behind my ears & knees, underneath my arms, between my toes…
…and other unmentionable heat-generating areas. 😯
Because I couldn’t reach the ones on my back, I would pour on some vinegar & the little cuties would let go on their own.
I know. I hear you.
Ewww!!!
But, really, they’re mostly harmless and very sweet.
I know you don’t believe that, so I’m going to write a post later about my experience with leeches – from my initial screaming freak-outs to my forced acclimation.
Because when living in a jungle, you don’t have the luxury of choosing who sucks on you. 🙄
In the meantime, I saw this leech video & thought it might tenderize your heart toward leeches.
FAIR WARNING!
Do not eat, drink tequila with a worm inside, or let anyone pucker-up to kiss you while watching this video.
Sylver Blaque 
I had only one encounted with leeches and that happened while swimming in Lake Champlain in Vermmont. I returned to shore with and discovered that eight or nine of them had hitched a ride. (I didn’t appreciate their thumbing it as I hadn’t pulled over to aid any stranded passengers).
Lol! 🙂 That’s the thing about leeches – you don’t have to pull over. They’ll hop on whether you stop or not. And you won’t even know it, because you won’t feel a thing! How did you dislodge them? I always use my fingernail or vinegar. The different scientists I worked with each had their own method, and there was one who just let them feed until they got full & fell off!
I was at camp and my counsellor used salt. Seemed to work.
Noooo! Not salt! Salt destroys them – definitely physically, but I’m sure emotionally, too 😦