Hoover / Legends The Hoovers were a small , quadruped sentient species , little - known throughout the galaxy . They were brown with black eyes and disproportionately large trunks ; with this , some sucked the blood of other sentients . Hoovers could become sophisticated technicians , utilizing their tiny size to effect repairs from inside machinery . The technician Attark was a pet of Jabba Desilijic Tiure , living in the Hutt ' s Palace on Tatooine in 4 ABY . Biology and appearance . The Hoovers were a sentient species of quadrupeds with each of their limbs ending in black , cloven hooves . They had a disproportionately long snout compared to their small body size . Hoovers could use these snouts — also known as nose trunks — to slither through clothing and around blankets . It also enabled them to suck the blood of sleeping victims , belying their otherwise harmless appearance . They had two large , black , pupiless eyes , pointed ears , a wide mouth , and a small tail . A narrow ridge began at the top of their heads and ran down their backs to their tails . At least some Hoovers had brown skin , which was heavily wrinkled . History . To the wider galaxy , the Hoovers were a mysterious and little - known species . They were part of the galactic community by at least 4 ABY , when the Hoover Attark was a member of the Tatooine court of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure . Although considered to be a pet of the Hutt , he had tremendous technical abilities , and , due to his small size , was able to manipulate detailed electronics , sometimes crawling inside machinery to repair it from within . During the night , Attark drank the blood of other members of Jabba ' s retinue . He was present when Luke Skywalker , Leia Organa , and Chewbacca infiltrated Jabba ' s Palace to rescue a carbonite - encased Han Solo , an event which subsequently led to the death of Jabba and the splintering of his criminal empire . Behind the scenes . The Hoover was created as a maquette for the film , released in 1983 ; however , the creature cannot be seen in the film nor its presence recalled by several of the puppeteers from the set . He was given the moniker " Hoover " by the creature shop of Industrial Light & Magic , from as early as 1981 . Given the creature ' s long trunk , this was likely a reference to the vacuum cleaner . A second nickname found in the original design sketches for this creature was " Dogephant . " The puppet was to be operated by a puppeteer ' s arm through the floor . A dummy maquette shows that propmakers considered painting him a light purple with red spots on his back ; he was later colored brown . The maquette ended up in the Lucasfilm Archives sporting a blonde wig . Early reference works , such as " A Guide to the Star Wars Universe " ( 1994 ) and " " ( 1997 ) , treated Hoover as the name of an individual , leaving the species unidentified . The Decipher , Inc . " Star Wars " Customizable Card Game ( 1998 ) first identified Hoover as the species , giving the individual in Jabba ' s Palace the name Attark . " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " ( 2008 ) has an entry for both Attark and Hoover ; however , it treats Hoover as an individual of the Hoover species , not connecting him with Attark . This article has treated this as an error , as all other sources suggest only one individual of the species was in Jabba ' s Palace .