The second group includes the false leeches, which have no sucking mouth and live in freshwater. These leeches can be divided into three subgroups: the Haemopidae (bloodsucking worms), the Rhyncobdellida (gill-footed leeches) and the Hirudinea (true leeches).

Different Types Of Leeches (Based on Habitat)

Leeches can be broadly classified into three types based on their habitat: terrestrial, freshwater, and marine. Marine leeches live in saltwater. Freshwater leeches live in freshwater. Terrestrial leeches live on land. Each type of leech has its own unique characteristics. Some leeches exhibit only one kind of behavior while others exhibit more than one kind of behavior.

For example, some leeches will attach themselves to a host and feed off of the blood of the host. Others will bite into the flesh of the host. Still others will inject saliva into the host’s bloodstream.

Below we have discussed about each of these different types in detail:

Marine Leeches

There are three main groups of marine leeches: true leeches, false leeches, and ribbonworms. True leeches are flatworms with eight segments. Their body is divided into a head, trunk, and tail. Most true leeches live in saltwater. Some true leeches are filter feeders. Others use their long proboscises to sieve food particles from seawater. True leeches are not parasitic.

False leeches are similar to true leeches but lack the proboscis. Instead, they have a pair of hooks on either end of their bodies. Ribbonworms are very slender, soft-bodied animals. They do not have any segmentation. Instead, they resemble a piece of string. They are often mistaken for sea cucumbers. Ribbonworms are found in shallow seas throughout the world.

Freshwater Leeches

Leeches can be found living in fresh water. There are several different types of freshwater leeches. One type lives in stagnant waters. This group includes the American dog leech, the European dog leech, and the African bulldog leech. Another group of leeches lives in fast moving waters.

These include the American eelworm, the European eelworm, and the Australian eelworm. Still another group of leeches lives along the banks of rivers and streams. These include the American moccasin leech, the European moccasin leech and the Asian moccasin leech.

Terrestrial Leeches

Leeches are sometimes referred to as terrestrial leeches. However, most leeches spend their entire lives in the water. Only a few species of leeches are capable of living on land. Two of these species are the American earthworm leech and the Japanese earthworm leech. Both species are members of the family Glossiphoniidae. Earthworm leeches are very small. They have no segmentation. Instead, their bodies are covered with hundreds of tiny bumps.

They are also blind. They cannot see anything. Like all leeches, earthworm leeches attach themselves to hosts and feed off them. Unlike other leeches, however, earthworm leeches do not need to stay attached to their hosts while feeding. Instead, they can detach themselves from their hosts and walk around freely.

Different Kinds Of False Leeches

Here are the subgroups of false leeches found across the globe:

Blood Sucking Worms:

Bloodsucking worms belong to the order of Annelida and include such creatures as earthworms, slugs, snails, leeches and ticks. Only one species of bloodsucking worm has been identified in North America. This species belongs to the family Glossiphoniidae and lives in the soil. It feeds on insects that it finds in decaying vegetation.

Gill Footed Leeches

Gill-footed leeches are also known as “leech lice” because they resemble small crabs. They are members of the class of mollusks, the Cephalochordata. There are more than 100 species of gill-footed leeches worldwide, including at least 20 species in North America. Most of these leeches feed on fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and humans.

Gill-footed leech larvae are parasitic on other invertebrates, especially aquatic insects. Gill-footed leaches have four pairs of legs with suckers on their undersides. Each sucker consists of a pair of hooks and a pad of tissue. When the leech attaches itself to its prey, it inserts its hooks into the skin and then pulls out some of the flesh.

The leech’s saliva contains an enzyme that dissolves the epidermis around the wound. Then, the leech sucks up the blood. After feeding, the leech retracts its hooks and leaves behind a trail of mucous. The mucous helps protect the leech from being eaten by predators.

Hirudinea

True leeches are members of the phylum Arthropoda and are characterized by having a body covered with a series of segmented plates. There are about 1,000 different species of true leeches worldwide, including about 60 species in North America. All true leeches have a single pair of long, slender, muscular jaws.

Their mouths consist of a pair of teeth, each tooth consisting of a crown and root. The roots of the teeth fit into grooves cut into the jaw. A true leech uses its jaws to grasp onto its prey. Once attached, the leech will inject a venom through its salivary glands. This venom causes the victim to lose consciousness and bleed profusely. The leech then begins to suck the blood.

The amount of blood sucked depends upon the size of the leech. Smaller leeches usually take less blood than larger ones. In addition, the rate of blood loss varies depending upon the type of leech. For example, true leeches usually feed for only 10 minutes before releasing their victims. However, large leeches may remain on their prey for hours.

The leeches described above are all parasites. Parasites are organisms that live off another organism without harming them. Parasitic leeches are not harmful to people or animals. Instead, they use the host animal as a place to reproduce. Some parasitic leeches lay eggs inside the host’s tissues. Others attach themselves to the outside of the host’s body. Still others insert their eggs directly into the host’s bloodstream.

There are many types of parasitic leeches found throughout the world. Many of these leeches are harmless to humans. However, there are certain species of parasitic leeches that cause serious health problems. For example, the leech Haementeria officinalis is commonly found in Europe. This parasite is responsible for causing a disease called amebic dysentery. Amebiasis occurs when H. officinalis enters the human intestine and lays eggs.

These eggs hatch in the intestines, where they grow rapidly. As a result, the intestinal walls become inflamed and ulcerated. Leeches can also enter the urinary tract and cause kidney damage. Other parasitic leeches include those belonging to the genera Echinobothrium, Neobenedenia, Paragonimus, Schistosoma, Spirometra, Taenia, Thysanosoma, Tunga, Trypanosoma, Varelaia, and Xenopeltis.

What is the lifecycle of parasitic leeches?

Parasitic leeches begin life as free-living creatures. They are born in freshwater streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and marshes. At this stage, they are called cercariae (Latin: “little tail”). The cercariae emerge from the water and swim toward the bottom of the stream. Here, they come across a suitable host such as a snail, worm or insect. If the cercariae find a suitable host, they penetrate the surface of the host using their tails. Inside the host, the cercariae develop into juvenile worms. Juvenile worms are called metacercariae (“middle tail”).

Metacercariae are able to move independently and crawl away from the host. The metacercariae eventually settle down to form cysts. Cysts are small sacs filled with eggs. When conditions are favorable, the cyst bursts open and release the eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae called miracidia (“miracle” because they appear out of nowhere).

Miracidia are tiny aquatic creatures that look like tadpoles. Miracidia infect other snails, fish, insects, or crustaceans. After being infected, the host becomes a carrier of the parasite. The larva develops within the host until it reaches maturity. Maturity indicates that the parasite has reached sexual reproductive capacity. It is at this point that the parasite changes from a larval to an adult form. Adult forms are known as adults (or adults) and have two pairs of tentacles on each side of their bodies. Adults also have suckers on their heads.

In some cases, the adult may be attached to the skin of the host. In other cases, the adult may remain free swimming in the water. Once the adult is ready to mate, it attaches itself to a suitable host. The female deposits her eggs near the mouth of the host.

The male then fertilizes the eggs. The fertilized eggs turn into larvae called sporocysts (“spore-like”). Sporocysts are immature stages of the parasite. Sporocysts are usually located in the stomach of the host.

Sporocysts contain thousands of spores. The spore is the reproductive cell of the parasite. The spores are released by the sporocysts and travel through the body of the host. Eventually, the spores reach the digestive system of the host. The spores mature inside the host’s digestive system. The parasites reproduce sexually. A new generation of parasites emerges from the host’s tissues. The cycle begins again.

What Are The Adaptations Of Leeches?

Leeches have several adaptations that help them survive in their environment. Some of these adaptations include:

• They have long slender bodies that allow them to glide over surfaces.

• Their eyes are positioned on top of their heads so that they can see what is going on around them.

• Their mouths are equipped with teeth for chewing food.

• Their blood vessels are very thin and flexible. This allows the leech to squeeze its way through tight spaces.

• Their bodies are covered with mucus that helps keep them slippery.

How Do Parasitic Leeches Affect Humans?

There are many different kinds of parasitic leeches. Some of these types of leeches affect humans more than others. For example, the following are some of the most common types of leeches found in North America:

• American Dog Tick Leech – Found in the eastern United States and Canada. These leeches attach themselves to dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, goats, deer, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, birds, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and even people.
• Brown Dog Tick Leech – Usually found in the southeastern part of the U.S., but sometimes found in northern states. These leeches attach to dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, mice, ducks, chickens, geese, swine, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, mules, donkeys, camels, and elephants.
• Greenhouse Leech – Found throughout the world. These leeches attach only to plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, peppers, eggplants, squash, beans, peas, potatoes, strawberries, grapes, figs, apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, cherries, almonds, walnuts, bananas, avocados, mangoes, papayas, guavas, kiwis, and oranges.
• Red House Leech – Found throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. These leeches attach mainly to rodents, bats, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals.
• Slender Leech – Found worldwide. These leeches attach mostly to fish, waterfowl, and other aquatic animals.
• Vampire Leech – Found worldwide except Antarctica. These leeches attach primarily to birds, reptiles, and mammals.
• Water Leech – Found worldwide, especially in tropical areas. These leeches attach almost exclusively to fish.
• Yellow Pond Leech – Found in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. These leeches attach predominantly to fish, frogs, and salamanders.
• White Pond Leech – Found worldwide in fresh or saltwater habitats. These leeches attach principally to fish, frogs, turtles, and salamanders, although they also occasionally attach to mammals.

What Are The Symptoms Of A Parasitic Leech Infestation?

The symptoms of a parasitic leech infestation vary depending on which type of leech you have. If your pet has been bitten by an American dog tick leech, it may look like a mosquito bite. It will usually be red, swollen, tender, and itch intensely. You should take your pet to the veterinarian immediately if this happens.

If your pet has been bitten or scratched by a brown dog tick leech, he or she may appear lethargic, have difficulty breathing, and feel weak. Your pet may also experience vomiting, diarrhea, fever, depression, loss of appetite, muscle weakness, and seizures.

If your pet was bitten or scratched by a greenhouse leech, he or she may have a rash that looks like a sunburn. This is because the leech secretes a substance called histamine into the skin when it bites.

If your pet was bitten or scraped by a red house leech, he or

she may have a sore that feels warm and painful. This is caused by the leech injecting its saliva into the wound.

If your pet had a leech attached to him or her at any time, he or she may develop a lump under the skin where the leech was attached. This can occur anywhere from one day to several weeks after being attacked.

If your pet’s leech was bitten by a white pond leech, he or she might have a large area of swelling, pain, and discoloration around the site of attachment.

If your pet’s leech were yellow pond leech, he may have a reddish-brown bump around the site of attachment that lasts for several days.

If your pet got bit by a vampire leech, he or he may have a dark circle around the mouth. This is due to the leech sucking blood from the animal.

If your pet gets bit by a water leech, he or she may have a circular area of redness around the site of attachment lasting for several days.

By the end of it, we are sure you would have little to no trouble differentiating between a nasty locust and a harmless cicada. Let us begin.

Appearance

Locust

Most commonly, a locust looks similar to a grasshopper with big hind legs, which help them to hop or jump. Locusts may not differ in color, but they differ more in form. 

There are over more than 600 species of locusts found in North America; they differ mostly in color ranging from very drab to very colorful. These large insects have two long antennae located on their head. 

They have large, bulbous eyes that are well separated and a chewing mouth which helps them in munching and consuming green crops. 

In their solitary nymph phase, the locusts adjust their coloration to match that of their surroundings, and they have low metabolic and oxygen intake rates. 

In the gregarious phase, they have a black and yellow or orange coloration in a fixed pattern; the metabolic and oxygen intake rates are higher in this phase. 

They have long legs, short wings, and dorsal sclerite in the solitary phase; in the gregarious phase, they have broader shoulders and longer wings with saddle-shaped pronotum.

Cicada

Cicadas are one of the large insects that belong to the group of sound-producing insects; they have two pairs of translucent, orange-veined wings. They have prominent compound eyes and three simple eyes, which are mostly dark with wide-spaced red eyes. 

The average size of male cicadas is between 0.8-2 inches long, whereas the females are slightly bigger than the males. Their antennae are cone-shaped, and they have three joints in the front segment of their legs. 

They may have a black or orange-colored underside of the abdomen that is striped with orange or black, which varies from one species to another. 

Cicadas can’t bite or sting, but they have mouthparts that help them to pierce plants and suck sap when they are in the nymph stage. An adult cicada can pierce human skin, and it can be painful, but their bite is neither venomous nor harmful.

Habitat

Locust 

Locusts can be found near farms, crops, and places with vegetation they get to feed on. They are considered a great threat to crops and farms as a single locust can feed on food equal to its body weight, and a swarm of locusts congrats can clear a field within a few minutes.

Cicada 

Most cicadas are found in deciduous forests that have hardwood trees like oaks, maples, and willows. These forests and trees provide them with sufficient food supply and physical conditions in which they can easily survive.

Class, Order, Family

Locust 

Locusts are from the Acrididae family, and they belong to the Orthoptera order, which is further divided into suborders locusts and grasshoppers on one side and crickets on the other.

Cicada

Cicadas belong to the Cicadidae family that covers every bug that produces or makes any kind of sound, has prominent eyes, compound, and simple eyes, along with two membranous pairs of wings. And their class is of Hemiptera types or “true bug.”

Geographic Range 

Locusts 

Locusts are found in almost every continent of the world except Antarctica, but they are mainly found in Africa, Arabia, Asia, and Spain. 

A flying locust swarm can travel hundreds of miles in search of food which is the reason why they spread fast, and a large swarm can cover a fifth of Earth’s land surface.

Cicadas

Annual cicadas are found throughout the world, while the periodicals are found in North America and central and eastern regions of the United States, including Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, New York, Illinois, and Georgia.

Diet

Locust 

Locust is known for commonly consuming leaves and tender tissues of various types of plants. They are some species that consume dry plant matter on the ground, and they also feed on deaf grasshoppers when there is a scarcity of plant food. 

Locusts are tenacious hoppers in their nymph phase, and their appetite is larger in this phase as compared to adults.

. A swarm of locusts feed on a variety of agricultural crops like corn, oats, peanuts, and citrus; they even feed on several kinds of vegetables and grasses like Bermuda grass and crabgrass.

Cicada

Cicadas have piercing mouthparts that they use to puncture roots and suck up fluids from the plant’s xylem. 

Unlike locusts, cicadas don’t feed primarily on plant leaves, and their activity does not cause any type of serious damage to plants. 

Adult cicadas feed on plant fluids from young twigs and woody shrubs; trees like Oak, maples, willow, and ash are commonly hosted by Cicadas.

Noise

Locust

Locusts produce sound by rubbing one part of their body against another body part. The noise produced by locusts is a soft, muffled buzzing sound. 

They generally produce this sound both during day and night depending on the species; this process is called stridulation. 

Locusts make sounds to attract mates, and this sound also plays an important role in moderating other locust behaviors based upon environmental conditions. 

Cicada

It is during summer when you get to hear the undeniable sound of cicadas. There are sound boxes found in the abdomen of the male cicadas, and they make noise by expanding and contracting a membrane called the tymbal. 

They produce a collective buzzing and clicking sound. Cicadas are well capable of producing a loud sound that can reach over 90 decibels. The male cicadas produce sound to attract females, and this noise is louder during hot days as the males like warm temperatures.

Lifecycle

Locusts

Every species of locusts undergo the three main stages: egg, nymph, and adult in their lifecycle. However, the duration of time in each stage varies in different species. 

The female locusts lay their eggs in the ground, which has mostly hard and firm soil. They lay their eggs up to 4 inches underground. Eggs are laid in the ground in groups of 50, and these groups are called pods. Female locusts can lay over 1-3 egg pods at one time.

The eggs hatch after two weeks of being laid underground. The young locusts that hatch out of the eggs are called “hoppers” or “nymphs,” and within one or two months, they go through five molting stages called “instars,” and their wings are developed after the fifth instar. 

Locusts after the fifth molt are called fledglings, and they can’t fly because their body takes around seven days to harden and become capable of flying. 

In the early stage of adult life, they feed mostly on vegetation which gives them the necessary energy for reproduction and flying. Within two weeks, a fledgling locust reaches sexual maturity and becomes an adult.

Cicadas

Like locusts, cicadas also have three main stages in their lifecycle: eggs, nymphs, and adults. The female cicadas lay their rice-shaped eggs in a groove that she makes using her ovipositor in twigs and branches of trees, and they lay over 400 eggs at different sites.

The groove protects the eggs and provides the young cicadas with tree fluid to feed on, but these groves kill small branches; it is called flagging when branches die, and the leaves turn brown.

Once the young cicadas hatch out of their eggs, they begin to crawl from the groove and fall to the ground from where they keep digging until they reach the roots of the tree to feed on. Depending on the species, the cicadas stay underground for 2-17 years, actively tunneling and feeding. 

After spending 2-17 years underground, the cicadas emerge out as nymphs. Now they climb to the nearest vertical surfaces to shed their exoskeleton; after shedding their old skin, their wings inflate, and adult skin hardens, which makes them ready to begin their adult life. 

Adult cicadas spend most of their time searching for mates, the males sing, and females respond, and the mating process begins.

Reproduction

Locust

After searching for a mate, a male locust mounts the back of her and applies the tip of his abdomen to her in order to release their sperm that gets transferred by the reproductive tract to the sperm sac of the female locust. 

The stored sperm is released when the female passes down eggs to the oviduct, and fertilization occurs. When mating is over, the females find sand that is warm and moist to lay down their eggs by pushing their abdomen down into the soil. 

Eggs are laid with frothy fluid, which helps in maintaining oxygen supply, and it hardens slightly.

Cicada

Cicadas have drum-like structures on their abdomen with which they produce a sound that helps to call females for mating, and the female cicadas flick their wings to produce clicking sounds to answer these mating calls. 

The mates face the opposite direction and use their wings for a little privacy. After mating is over, the female cicadas lay eggs and both male and female cicadas for within five weeks. 

About 200-400 eggs are laid by the female cicadas in the tomorrow l tiny holes of the branches of trees and shrubs.

Swarm

Locust

A swarm of locusts is formed when they increase in number, and there is insufficient food supply. There are different species of locusts found in the whole world, but among them, desert locusts are regarded as potential threats to crops and vegetation. 

The hoppers or nymphs come together and keep moving forward in search of food, and the crowding also brings a change in their color from green, brown to a striking black and yellow coloration. 

A swarm of hoppers varies in size from hundreds to millions, and the swarm may cover a few square meters or several kilometers depending on how many bands have come together. 

They can easily travel about several hundreds of kilometers from their place of origin, and a swarm covering 20 square kilometers of the area can consume 3000 tons of vegetation per day.

Cicada

Periodical Cicadas swarm several states of the U.S. every 17 years, coating almost everything still that they could find in their immediate vicinity. 

From bouncing off the cars to swarming tree trunks and walls, Cicada swarms, known as Cicada broods, come out in different groups in different places. 

In 2021, the swarm of Cicadas called ‘Brood X’ started to swarm in the middle of the month of May.

Cicada broods or swarms are not destructive as locust swarms (more on that later in the post).

Destructive Behaviour

Locusts

Locusts are native insects to Africa, Middle East, and Asia, and they are menacing farmers for millennia. There is a reference of locusts in noble as one of the ten plagues inflicted on Egypt. 

Locusts aren’t picky eaters; they can feed on almost every edible thing that comes in their path. According to a study, an average swarm of locusts destroys around 200 million kilograms of vegetation every day; this much vegetation can feed around thousands of people. An average dense and crackling swarm may contain 80 million locusts per square kilometer. They are a potential threat to the crops and pastures as they can consume food equal to their body weight each day.

The swarms can cover about 5-130 kilometers in a single day, moving in the wild. And it is nearly impossible for someone to see through the swarms with naked eyes. 

Locusts destroy nearly hundreds of square kilometers of vegetation, and they can bring instability in some of the poorest regions of the world. In a recent study, it was found that more than 19 million people of East Africa are suffering from acute hunger. 

In the regions recovering from a devastating drought and deadly floods, locusts are a major food security problem, and if the problem is not controlled, the locusts may wipe out the planted crops before they have the chance to grow.

Locusts have a great ability to reproduce exponentially, especially during the rainy season, as it is the perfect condition during which green plants grow, and ample food sources are available to the newborn locusts, and they reproduce rapidly and increase in number. 

During this time, they become more sociable and live in a group lifestyle which is the gregarious phase; they have an enhanced endurance and larger version during this period.

Cicadas

Cicadas cause damage to the trees but not in an ordinary way that we humans generally think of. Although the adult cicadas feed on the leaves of the trees, their feeding does not cause any serious or lasting damage to the trees. 

They are also root feeders, their larvae drop to the ground, and then they dig the ground and feed on the roots until it’s time to pupate. 

Despite the fact that root-feeding robs nutrition from the trees that help it grow, arborists have never documented any damage to the trees from root feeding. 

Cicadas cause damage to the trees when it is the time of the egg-laying process. The female cicadas lay eggs under the twigs or branches of the trees, and then the twigs split and die, turning the leaves of the trees into brown. 

This condition is called flagging because of the contrast of brown leaves against the healthy and green leaves of the branches.

Read More

Difference between Ligers and Tigons

Since Craigslist has a ginormous reach and thousands of users that use its resources, your ad can certainly gain a lot of traction and exposure, eventually reaching potential adopters who can provide a lifelong home to your pet. If you’re wondering how you can re-home a pet on Craigslist, we have discussed all of it in complete elaboration.

However, we strongly discourage re-homing your pet on Craigslist for multiple reasons (read on to know why). We suggest that you rule out all other options first and keep Craigslist as your last resort to re-homing a pet.

If you’ve intentionally brought in a pet at home, it is your responsibility to give it the utmost care and shelter. However, if, for some reason, you need to re-home it, and relinquish ownership, make sure you do your best before you are left with placing a re-homing ad on Craigslist for your pet.

So, now for the article to pick thrust, we will walk you through a detailed guide on how to re-home a pet on Craigslist, hoping to cover as many pointers as it takes to ensure that your pet is re-homed successfully while giving you insights into what you can do to ensure that it gets the rightful care and shelter after the whole re-homing process. 

Placing an ad on Craigslist

Of course, the baby step to re-homing your pet on Craigslist is placing an ad in the Pets Sections. Here is what you need to include when placing a re-homing ad on Craigslist:

Describe your pet in the ad

Describing your pet is a crucial facet to attracting serious adopters rather than impulse buyers. Therefore, a two-line message that says ‘Up for adoption’ with one picture of your pet that is a decade old would just not do. Follow these steps instead:

• Start with writing in bullets (or in brief) about your pet’s age, general appearance such as height, the colour of eyes, coat, breed, information on whether it is purebred or not, etc. 
• Include a mid-length description of your pet that highlights your pet’s personality, such as what he’s usually like (energetic, or happy, slow, etc.). Try to incorporate one of the most memorable moments of your pet – this connects the potential adopter to your pet in most instances. Add what your pet likes or dislikes and what their best qualities are.
• Make sure to mention behavioral issues if the pet has one. If your pet has a special diet, include the details of the same. Do not forget to highlight medical conditions, if pre-existing, in your pet.
• Many adopters want to know why you’re looking to re-home your pet. Briefly write about why your pet can no longer stay with you.

Add pictures of your pet

An important part of placing your ad on Craigslist is putting at least 7-8 pictures of your pet to attract serious adopters. Instead of putting old photos, or photos when your puppy was a kid (now that he is 5 or 6 years old), add the most recent photos. Add a headshot and a full-body shot, and try keeping the background unfocused so that people are not easily distracted by irrelevant details. 

Try to either snap and upload, or upload previous pictures that highlight your pet’s personality or where they are doing something fun such as chasing a fly or playing with a catnip toy.

Include Vet Records and Adoption Fee

Including vet records and your vet’s contact info (post-approval by your vet) so that a potential adopter can connect with them and ask about your dog’s medical health and other things associated. This not only shows that you’re upfront with your pet but also increases trust between you and the adopter. 

Defining a re-homing fee is just another important aspect – no matter how kind and compassionate you feel, never let your pet be re-homed without charging a re-homing fee. This does not only narrow down the scope to serious adopters who actually want to give your pet a new home but also weeds out impulse adopters and ill-intentioned people.

Keep the fee reasonable; anywhere between $50-$300 is reasonable, depending on the needs and size of your pet. 

Add your contact information

Add a number that is easy to reach; you may choose not to disclose your number on Craigslist owing to privacy issues, but if you do, make sure it is reachable at all times. Do not add your home address and avoid giving out overly-sensitive information, even if asked by a potential adopter. 

It is advisable to provide your email or set up a new one to avoid people mailing you on your personal mail. Having a new mail set up just for having adopters reach out to you makes it fairly convenient for you to screen them and revert.

Keep refreshing your ad.

Craigslist ads expire anywhere between two weeks to two months, depending on the category of your ad. If your ad has expired, but your pet has not been re-homed yet, keep refreshing it to reach more and more people. However, once your pet has been re-homed, do not forget to delete the ad flyer. 

Interviewing Adopters

Interviewing an adopter helps you understand a lot about them. When you’re screening them, you understand common behavioral patterns, and you may get an idea of whether your pet will get along with them. It is advisable to interview the adopter at your home, so the adopter can spend time with your pet. How they behave around your pet will certainly help in making a decision on whether you want to re-home your pet with them. 

Also, pay a visit to the adopter’s house to check the overall condition of living and the house along with the safety measures taken to ensure the pet’s safety.

When interviewing an adopter, below are the important things to discuss that can help in understanding whether they are the right people to re-home your pet with.

What to discuss with an adopter in an interview? 

Property Ownership

An applicant owning the property where the pet will live is better than the owner who is renting a property. The renting applicant has more chances of moving than the owners, which increases the chances of the dogs being re-homed. In most cases, the landlords of the renters don’t really allow the renters to own a pet because of allergy, disturbance and unwanted chaos in the locality. Renters require permission from the landlord to pet an animal, and if the landlord rejects the renter’s request, they have to return the animal back. So, it’s important that you ask a renting applicant if they have the written permission from their landlord that they can keep a pet.

History with Animals

The history of the applicants with animals is what you should know before moving to any further steps. This will help you to know if the applicant had ever owned a pet before or not and why they got rid of it. There have been instances in which the pet owners have abused and treated their pets badly, taking them to illegal fights, using them for painful experiments, and not really taking good care of them in general. Ask the applicant about how high the animal will be in the priority in the applicant’s life and how they are committed to the pet’s care. Along with this, questioning whether they kept the pet indoors outdoors will help to determine the relationship between the owner and the pet they previously had.

Family Dynamics

Ask about the family dynamics of the applicant to know what kind of family dynamics the pet will be facing with the applicant. Ask if there are any children present in the family and their ages, as the young children are naughty and playful, and the pet might not like it in the beginning. 

Pet Supervision

Ask questions to determine the amount of supervision that the pet will likely receive from the applicant and the family of the applicant. Ask questions like ‘is the backyard fenced’, ‘how often someone is home’, ‘who will look after the dogs while everyone is away. Also, ask if the applicant stays at their parent’s home who manages the households when the applicant and the spouse are at work, or if the house unoccupied for a significant period of time. This gives you a general idea about the time that the adopter will spend with the pet.

Financial Stability

Collect information about the financial stability of the applicant. Ask about their current source of income or job and if they are responsible with money. In this, you will be able to determine whether the applicant can afford the costs associated with keeping a dog, including the basic food costs and vet expenses.

Asking for a contract

Getting a contract drawn up between you and the adopter is the most crucial part of re-homing your pet that can ensure its safety and refrain the adopter from sending away the pet to a shelter. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice but make sure that you include these important pointers in the contract between you and the adopter:

• A guarantee that the pet will have all basic necessities provided to it and have access to adequate vet care when needed.
• A guarantee that the pet will never be subject to abuse and should never be chained or beaten up. 
• A guarantee that the previous owner will be allowed to check up on the pet in a span of six months, and if they find that the pet has not been taken care of, the previous owner can take it back.
• A health guarantee that states that any health conditions that the pet suffers from, once under the supervision of the adopter, the previous owner shall not be liable (given that he has already proved that the pet was healthy when re-homed).
• A guarantee that the adopter will not take the pet to any shelter or organization where euthanization is practiced. 
• A statement that cites that it is the adopter’s responsibility to take steps necessary to find the pet if lost or stolen.
• A statement that cites that the adopter will inform the previous owner if they are re-homing the pet.

Why should you not re-home a pet on Craigslist?

Without any exaggeration, re-homing a pet on Craigslist, at many points, is about ‘despair and menacing treatment’ for the pets. A number of Craigslist adopters are not only sketchy but might as well be ill-intentioned. You are, after all, handing over your beloved pet to a stranger, and if fate has it, your pet can end up in a euthanizing shelter the very next day, or worse, get treated badly in their new home. 

Wanting an adoption fee may weed out impulse buyers, but it is still not enough since the adopter may take your pet to a shelter or leave it homeless or not give it enough care and attention if they feel they are not compatible with your ex-pet’s company. 

On the other hand, if you re-home your pet under the free-to-home section, numerous ill-intentioned Craigslist adopters may take control of your pet and do heinous acts with them such as:

• Dog Fighting. It may be illegal, but it is more common than you think
• Crush and post videos for people with crushing fetishes
• Harm or injure them
• Euthanize them or kill them inhumanely. 
• Sell to laboratories for use in experiments.

A number of organizations working towards animal protection, such as Peta, The Dodo, and HuffPost, warn people against re-homing their pet on Craigslist due to the numerous instances where pets have wound up tortured or dead by new adopters.

If you are of the opinion, ‘If there’s evil in the world, there’s good too,’ we agree, but the evil against animals often outweighs the good. You do not have to take out word for it; instead, here are animal cruelty instances on pets re-homed on Craigslist, reported by peta.org, that may speak to you.

• January 2020/Des Moines, Iowa: It was reported by WHOTV.com that Yelena Barr was accused of abusing her pet dog and arrested. Later it was found that when she was released, she went to purchase another dog, which had been advertised on Craigslist. 
• July 2020/Kokomo, Indiana: IdahoStatesman.com reported that 19-year-old Krystal Scott, of Kokomo, Indiana, was accused of making and distributing animal crush videos. Animal crushing is a kind of abuse that is filmed and posted on the internet as pornography for individuals with a  ‘crushing fetish.
• January 2021/Tulsa County, Oklahoma: FOX23.com reported that a person who had adopted a dog from an animal shelter had re-homed the dog to someone else over Craigslist. And the person who acquired the dog later took the dog to a veterinary hospital in a garbage bag. The clinic clearly determined that the dog had been shot in the head and was still alive in the bag.
• November 2017/Alamogordo, New Mexico: CNN.com reported that a man used to acquire dogs through Craigslist ads and killed them for shooting target practice, and the man was responsible for the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and had killed over 26 people.
• April 2018/Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: WPXI.com reported about a man who had been charged with over 100 counts of felony cruelty to animals, and about 50 dead animals were found at his home, including 33 chickens, 18 ducks and five rabbits in garbage bags in the yard. Most of them had starved to death, and the man told the authorities that he acquired the animals from people giving them away for free on Craigslist.
• May 2019/St. Charles County, Missouri: STLToday.com reported that Kaine A. Luzader was facing felony charges after being found responsible for killing at least 12 cats. And the news said that the man acquired cats and kittens from people who were offering them for sale or for free on Craigslist.
• July 2019/Escondido, California: NBCSanDiego.com reported that  Joshua Boyer, with multiple felony counts of cruelty to animals, was charged with felony charges and arrested. He was responsible for allegedly torturing and killing cats acquired via Craigslist and animal adoption groups. 
• April 2017/Adams County, Colorado: TheDenverChannel.com reported about a man who was convicted of beating a cat to death with a hammer and was arrested. And during the interrogation, he admitted that he acquired the cats from Craigslist ads.

What can you do instead?

We’ve mentioned countless times that re-homing your pet on Craigslist should be the very last resort on your list of possible solutions. Depending on why you need to re-home the pet, the solutions may vary, but here are a few things that you can always do instead of putting your pet for adoption on Craigslist.

Contact a no-kill rescue: No-kill rescues are exactly what they sound like – instead of euthanizing a pet that comes to their shelter, they try finding a home for it. This is way more morale than the organizations that practice euthanization and kill the pet as soon as they step onto their foyer (figuratively). If your pet is purebred, and you have all the vet records to weed out doubts about medical conditions, a no-kill rescue can find a serious adopter and even get them to sign an adoption contract, something that most Craigslist adopters refrain from doing. 

Another bright side of working with a no-kill rescue to re-home your dog is that the volunteers contributing to the rescue are much more experienced than you likely are when it comes to screening potential adopters and finding the best possible adopter for your pet. They can also put the pet up for adoption on their website under ‘courtesy listing’ and Petfinder. 

Contact your family, friends, or co-workers: This is one of the best options out there if you want to re-home your pet. You can always reach out to somebody in your family, friends, or people from your workspace who wish to have a pet and can likely provide a home for your pet. This has two major benefits over re-homing on Craigslist:

One: We believe that the person you’ll be reaching out to in your contacts is someone you’ve known for a long time and can trust with your pet. This means that they can not only provide your dog with a home but also give it the utmost love and care they have gotten from you so far. In our opinion, this is far safer than handing over your pet to a complete stranger on an online platform.

Two: You can always stay in touch with your pet, even when you’ve relinquished ownership, and you can often pay a visit whenever you want to. On the other hand, when it comes to Craigslist, a lot of adopters are not up for letting you visit your pet once a few months. They may not want to stay in touch with you either and block you off any social media as soon as they are two blocks away from your alley. 

Take a loan for caring and basic necessities expenses: If you’re re-homing your pet because you can not pay for its maintenance, we suggest taking a loan, and paying for it in parts, so that it can cover the cost for basic necessities of your pet, such as diet, spaying, neutering, vet expenses, etc.