Leech (ma huang) Farming Requirements and 2019 Variety Recommendations

The leech, also known as ma huang, is mainly used as medicine and has effects such as treating stroke, high blood pressure, clearing blood stasis, amenorrhea, and traumatic injuries. Because wild ones are relatively scarce while market demand is large, it mainly relies on artificial farming. So, what are the leech farming requirements?

1. Introduction to leeches!

1. What are leeches afraid of?

Leeches are afraid of salt because they are mollusks without skin protection, so they are very sensitive to salt. After salt is sprinkled, the salt forms a high-concentration salt solution with their body fluids, causing stress-induced contraction, prompting the leakage of internal body fluids and leading to dehydration and death.

2. Do leeches hibernate?

Leeches have the habit of hibernating in winter. When the temperature is below 10°C, they enter a hibernation state, during which they do not eat or move and have strong survival ability; if in the north, hibernation lasts more than half a year, while in Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan and other places, hibernation lasts only 1-3 months.

2. What are the leech farming requirements?

Leeches have strong vitality, grow easily and are very easy to manage, but attention should be paid to water quality, water temperature, feeding, and escape prevention.

1. Water quality requirements: Leeches are not strict about water quality and can also grow in filthy water, but in artificial farming with high density, it is better to keep the water clean and ensure a certain amount of dissolved oxygen; if there is a special rotten smell or stench, water should be changed or the pond should be drained and cleaned in time to prevent mass death of leeches.

2. Water temperature requirements: The suitable growth temperature for leeches is 15-30°C. If too low, they stop feeding; if too high, growth is affected. Therefore, the temperature should be kept suitable. In winter, leeches enter hibernation, and it is necessary to ensure that breeding leeches overwinter safely. In July-August when water temperature is high, attention should be paid to proper water changes.

3. Feeding requirements: The bait for leeches is mainly freshwater snails, earthworms and some insects. Various animal blood and internal organs can also be supplementary feed. When feeding, attention should be paid to feeding at intervals and promptly removing leftover bait and coagulated blood, so as not to pollute and spoil the water quality and affect leech growth.

4. Escape prevention requirements: Leeches have quite a strong escape ability. Therefore, escape prevention facilities are indispensable. An escape prevention ditch can be set up on the pond ridge, built with bricks, with a ditch width of 12 cm and height of 8 cm. When it rains, use fine mesh to block them or sprinkle some lime in the ditch to prevent escape.

3. What leech varieties are good to farm in 2019?

The leech is a common aquatic animal. There are more than 300 varieties distributed around the world, and China has 116 species, but not many truly have medicinal value. Three are commonly used in medicine, namely the broad-body golden-line leech, the Japanese medical leech, and the slender golden-line leech.

1. Broad-body golden-line leech: 6-13 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, slightly spindle-shaped, dark green on the back and pale yellow on the belly; lives in paddy fields, rivers and lakes, does not suck blood, and feeds on plankton in the water, small insects, mollusk larvae and humus on the mud surface; it has strong survival ability and lies dormant in wet mud near the shore in winter, neither eating nor moving.

2. Japanese medical leech: body length 3-5 cm, width 4-5 mm, slightly cylindrical, green with black on the back and grayish green on the belly; lives in paddy fields and swamps, and sucks human and livestock blood; it has strong regenerative ability, and if cut and raised, it can regenerate a new body from the cut part.

3. Slender golden-line leech: body length 28—67 mm, width 3.5—8 mm, lanceolate, brownish green on the back and light yellow on the belly; mostly lives in paddy fields. Although its underdeveloped jaws can pierce the skin, it cannot suck blood, and it mainly feeds on aquatic earthworms and insect larvae.

Summary: Leeches have strong vitality, grow easily and are very easy to manage, but attention should be paid to requirements such as water quality, water temperature, feeding, and escape prevention; there are many varieties, and the three with farming value are the broad-body golden-line leech, the Japanese medical leech, and the slender golden-line leech. Everyone can consider which one to raise.