In my experience, the reason people don't scrape them off is the rumour that they leave their mouthparts behind. Removing the terrestrial leeches that live nea

In my experience, the reason people don't scrape them off is the rumour that they leave their mouthparts behind. Removing the terrestrial leeches that live near me in Australia is easy. Put the edge of a credit card a few cm away, resting against your skin at a slight angle, and then quickly scrape the leech away like you're scraping paint.