Are centipedes easy to raise? You need to master breeding techniques to make money
It is said that centipedes are poisonous, but the liquor brewed with centipedes can treat many diseases, so there is a certain breeding prospect, but if you want to use centipedes to make money, you need certain breeding techniques and courage, because if you are not careful you will be bitten by a centipede, so are centipedes easy to raise? How to raise them to make money?
Centipede breeding techniques
1. They like living in groups: centipedes have the habit of living together in groups of large and small sizes. Centipedes in the same group can get along peacefully, and fights and cannibalism rarely occur. If the habitat is too small and there are too many centipedes, the old centipedes will automatically leave and look for another habitat.
2. Centipedes are timid and easily startled. If they are slightly startled, they will stop feeding, flee desperately from their nest, or curl up and remain motionless. A female centipede that is laying eggs will immediately stop laying, and a centipede incubating eggs will, contrary to its normal behavior, eat the eggs after being startled.
3. They like dark and damp places. Wild centipedes mostly live on hillsides, in fields, by roadsides, in places overgrown with weeds, or in woodpiles and gaps between roof tiles. They are also often found in dark corners such as the corners of kitchen walls, and centipede traces are also commonly seen under bricks and tiles around pig pens and chicken coops.
4. They rest in their nests during the day and come out to move at night. From 8 to 12 p.m. is the peak activity period for centipedes, and they generally return to their nests one after another to rest before about 4 a.m. After dawn, it is difficult to see centipedes. During the day, centipedes have very poor eyesight and cannot see things even a little farther away, so it is difficult for them to find food and defend against enemies. They rely only on a pair of slender antennae extending forward to feel their way, and at night they also rely on their antennae to search for prey and forage.
5. They have the habit of licking
Centipedes use the dense fine hairs on the end segment and basal segment protrusions of the first small maxillae, the brush-like bristles on the back of the end segment of the second small maxillae, and the saliva spit from their mouths to frequently lick their antennae and walking legs, and they will also lick their burrows completely clean
6. Temperature. Centipedes are poikilothermic animals, and all their activities are often related to temperature. The most suitable temperature for centipede growth and development is 25°C to 32°C. When the temperature is 11°C to 15°C, centipedes reduce foraging and stop mating and laying eggs. When the temperature drops below 10°C, centipedes stop all activities, drill into loose soil (or nest soil), curl up into a ball, and enter hibernation. However, when the temperature rises to 33°C to 35°C, due to water loss in the body, all their activities pause. If the temperature rises above 36°C, too much water is lost from the body, causing the body to dry out and die.
7. Humidity; when the relative air humidity in the rearing room is 60% to 70% and the nest soil humidity is 10% to 20%, all life activities of centipedes are most active, which means this is the most suitable humidity for centipede growth and development.
Feeding and management of centipedes
1. Maintain a quiet environment: centipedes require a quiet environment for laying eggs and hatching. If disturbed, they often eat the eggs and larvae. Generally, in the same rearing pool, females lay eggs at different times. Females that have not yet laid eggs often interfere with and disrupt the normal process of egg laying and hatching, and some even snatch and eat the eggs. Therefore, before females lay eggs, they should be raised separately, or isolated in a large rearing pool using glass pieces, bottomless glass cups, or tin cans.
2. Increase feeding before laying: centipedes do not eat or drink during the incubation period and rely on consuming their own nutrients to maintain activity. Before laying eggs, females have the habit of eating large amounts of food to store nutrients. At this time, the amount of feed should be increased, and attention should be paid to adjusting the types of food to encourage females to eat more and increase nutrition before hatching.
3. Management during the incubation period: during the period when centipedes hold their eggs and care for the young, they have certain reactions to disturbance, vibration, strong light, and loud sounds. Therefore, the rearing room must be chosen as a quiet and dark place. Red light lamps should preferably be installed indoors, and windows should be covered with cloth or bamboo curtains to prevent strong light exposure. The hatching jars in the room should be placed in advance, and once eggs are laid, they should not be moved easily. Do not casually move the covering glass pieces (pressing pieces), and do not shine a flashlight on them. If the humidity in the hatching nest is too low, it will affect the normal development of the embryos, so water should be added to the hatching jar in a timely manner. When adding water, it should be poured slowly along the jar wall so that the inner wall around the hatching nest is only slightly moist. After hatching is completed, because centipedes have the phenomenon of competing for food and the large eating the small, the females should be removed in time or the larvae should be separated into different nests for rearing.
4. Pay attention to rearing density: it is necessary to observe changes in body length and body size of centipedes and raise them in separate groups and separate pools. At the same time, prevent centipedes from escaping. In addition, keep the feed clean and hygienic, and especially do not feed bait contaminated with pesticides. Observe frequently, prevent natural enemies of centipedes from entering the rearing pool, and promptly remove diseased centipedes.
Preparation of rearing soil
During artificial rearing, rearing soil is indispensable for centipede life, because rearing soil can provide centipedes with a comfortable shelter, keep them warm in winter, and help them escape the heat in summer. At the same time, centipedes can also absorb water and nutrients from the rearing soil. Centipedes have strong adaptability to rearing soil, and both sandy soil and loam are acceptable, but the rearing soil must be loose, fertile, and moist, so garden soil is best for rearing soil. Clay should not be used as rearing soil, because clay easily hardens, making it difficult for centipedes to enter. Before hardening, due to its strong stickiness, it can also stick to the centipede's legs and mouthparts, affecting crawling and feeding activities. First dig garden soil from a place uncontaminated by pesticides and chemical fertilizers, then break it up and remove impurities, stones, tile fragments, and so on from the soil, then place it under sunlight to expose and disinfect it, killing ants, mites, and other insects and insect eggs in the soil, as well as pathogens and molds, to reduce diseases and insect pests of centipedes, and dry it for later use.
1. Centipede rearing pool
Centipedes have a very strong climbing ability, but they cannot swim. Based on this characteristic, we have developed new centipede rearing and management techniques, and can design water-ring centipede rearing pools, glass inner-eave centipede rearing pools, and so on.
2. Feeding habits and food
Centipedes are typical carnivorous animals and like various live insects, such as crickets, locusts, yellow mealworms, dragonflies, cockroaches, flies, and bees, as well as the pupae and eggs of these insects. They also eat spiders, earthworms, snails, geckos, snakes, frogs, small birds, small mice, and so on. When hungry, they also eat a small amount of tender plant leaves and buds.
3. Management
For centipedes captured from the wild for breeding stock, choose healthy and uninjured ones. If the stocking density of centipedes is too high, if they are disturbed too much, or if feed and water sources are insufficient, they may kill each other. For piled tiles and stone piles, based on the bottom surface area, stock 300 centipedes per sq m.
4. Isolate pregnant female centipedes
Centipedes are dioecious. Females about to lay eggs have a bloated body shape, with the abdomen almost touching the ground, move slowly, and are relatively easy to identify. During egg laying and hatching, centipedes are best raised in isolation. The method is: place a small basin in the rearing basin or use a canning jar to raise them individually, so as to avoid interference from other centipedes and make management easier.
5. Heating methods for the rearing room
The rearing room must be well built and have the conditions to provide heating, temperature control, and good heat preservation performance. Generally, the size of such a rearing room depends on the number of centipedes overwintering, heating conditions, and whether the heat energy supply is sufficient. There are many heating methods. Coal stoves, sawdust stoves, rice husk stoves, electric heating tubes, and so on can be used.
6. Harvesting and processing of centipede products
Generally captured from April to June. After capture, use bamboo pieces sharpened at both ends to insert into the head and tail, then stretch them straight and sun-dry them or scald them with boiling water, until they are sun-dried or dried. In some areas in winter, chicken feathers, chicken bones, and other objects are buried in damp and shaded places to attract centipedes to lay eggs and reproduce there, and they are captured at the Beginning of Spring.
Centipede rearing density: centipedes like living in groups. The density for raising centipedes should vary according to the solar term, insect type, thickness of sandy soil, and air temperature. When the temperature is low and the sandy soil is thicker, the rearing density can be higher. Conversely, when the temperature is high and the sandy soil is thin, the density should be lower. Juvenile centipedes that have left the maternity chamber are suitable at about 6,500 per sq m, those 5 cm long at about 3,500, those 7-10 cm at 2,000, those 12 cm to 13 cm at 1,100, and those over 15 cm at 600.
7. Requirements of centipedes for pool soil
In summer it should be on the wetter side, while in spring, autumn, and winter it should be on the drier side. The relative humidity of the environment around the rearing basin should be maintained at about 70%. If the soil in the basin is too wet, consider replacing it or sprinkling some dry soil in the basin to absorb moisture. Some people mistakenly add fertilizers such as cow dung and some chicken bones to the soil layer in the basin, using the insects bred as centipede food. This hinders the environmental sanitation in the pool and easily causes contamination.
Construction of centipede rearing pools
Artificial centipede rearing can use jar rearing or pool rearing. For jar rearing, use old broken earthen jars or ceramic jars, with the narrowest part having a diameter of more than 0.5 m, bury them mouth-down in the soil about 20 cm, build up broken bricks or adobe in the middle of the jar, about 10 cm lower than the jar surface, and leave a certain gap between the adobe stack in the middle of the jar and the jar wall. If using an intact jar, do not knock out the bottom; simply build adobe in the jar directly. A jar with a diameter of 80 cm can hold about 200 adult centipedes.
For pool rearing, the rearing pool should be built in a sunny, ventilated place with good drainage that is relatively damp and secluded. It can be built indoors or outdoors. Build it with bricks or stones, coat the surface with cement, and make it 80 cm high. The area of the rearing pool can be arbitrary, generally 5 sq m to 10 sq m. Spread fine stones or broken tile pieces on the ground, and weeds and trees can also be planted in the pool to create as much as possible a natural ecological environment suitable for centipedes to inhabit. Paste smooth, undamaged plastic film around the inner walls of the pool, or use glass pieces around the pool opening to form a ring of inner eaves about 15 cm wide and at right angles to the pool wall, to prevent centipedes from escaping and also prevent harmful animals from falling into the pool. Generally, each sq m of rearing pool can stock about 500 to 900 adult centipedes.
Centipedes are afraid of sunlight and hide by day and come out at night. During the day they generally inhabit hillsides, fields, roadsides, or places overgrown with weeds, and especially like to hide in abandoned ditches, desolate grave mounds, cracks by roadsides, and among stones and rubble. From Grain in Ear to Summer Solstice, as the temperature gradually rises, centipedes like to live in dark, damp, warm, rain-sheltered places with circulating air. In late autumn, they mostly inhabit the lower slopes of loose-soil ditches facing away from the wind and toward the sun, or inside tree holes. When the temperature is below 10°C, they stop feeding, and at minus 7°C they enter hibernation. During hibernation, centipedes no longer move or eat, the body forms an “S” shape, the antennae curl from outside inward, and the tail legs are brought together. The depth of overwintering潜伏 is directly related to the levels of air temperature and soil temperature.
From hatching from eggs, through larval development, until adulthood, centipedes need to undergo several molts. Each molt makes them noticeably larger. Adult centipedes molt once a year, while others molt twice. During molting, avoid disturbing them, otherwise the molting time will be prolonged (generally about 2 hours). At this time, also prevent attacks by swarms of ants, because centipedes in the process of molting have no ability to resist. Centipedes grow relatively slowly. From hatching into larvae in the first year to before hibernation that same year, they only grow to 3 cm to 4 cm; in the second year they can grow to 3.5 cm to 6 cm; only in the third year do they reach more than 10 cm. Therefore, from starting development as eggs and growing into adults and then laying eggs again, centipedes need 3 to 4 years.
Centipede mating and egg laying
The lifespan of a centipede is only 6 years. After sexual maturity, they generally mate in the early morning of sunny days after rain from March to May and from July to August, and begin laying eggs after 40 days. Before laying eggs, the centipede's abdomen is almost pressed tightly against the ground as it digs a burrow. When laying eggs, the centipede's body bends into an “S” shape, the rear several pairs of walking legs prop up, the tail legs turn upward, and the antennae extend forward, then strings of eggs are discharged from the genital pore. The egg-laying process takes about 3 hours, with 80 to 150 eggs laid each time. The egg surface has mucus, and the eggs stick to one another to form an egg mass. During the incubation period, the female centipede does not eat or drink until the young centipedes hatch. After laying is completed, the centipede then cleverly turns its body to the side, uses its walking legs to gather the eggs into a ball, and holds them in its embrace to incubate. The incubation time is 43 days to 50 days.
Centipede eggs are oval, vary in size, and are rice-yellow and semi-transparent. The egg mass incubates relatively slowly. In the first 5 days there is no significant change; after 10 days the eggs become long and flat; after half a month the eggs become kidney-shaped, with the middle trace line splitting open; after 20 days they become crescent-shaped; after 1 month they initially take on larval form and wriggle within the mother centipede's embrace; after 35 to 40 days, the centipede larvae are already crawling up and down; after 43 to 45 days, the larvae leave the mother and move independently, foraging on their own.
Secret recipes for centipede breeding
Jar rearing
It can be used as a breeding place for stock centipedes and for raising small and medium centipedes. The nest soil should not contain brick residue, weeds, grass leaves, melon shells, fruit peels, grass roots, or other debris. Its moisture level should be such that it forms a ball when squeezed by hand and breaks apart when dropped (water content 15% to 17%). In midsummer and early autumn it can be slightly wetter, and when raising juvenile and medium centipedes it can also be wetter. The particles of the nest soil should not be too large. Each board can hold 15 nest bottles. The nest board can both prevent harm from natural enemies and allow the nest bottles to be stacked layer by layer, making full use of space. Wash the bottles clean with strong alkaline water, then rinse with clean water until transparent and free of odor. After drying, put in 2 to 3 cm of moist soil as nest soil. Using canning jars as centipede nests is relatively ideal. Each nest bottle can raise 1 stock centipede, or 20-80 juvenile centipedes, or 2 to 6 medium centipedes. This not only keeps the density reasonable, but can also solve the problem of killing one another.
Greenhouse rearing
Build a two-layer wall 10 cm from the wall around the rearing room, fill the gap between the walls tightly with sawdust or dry fine soil, and make the ceiling into a double layer filled solid to form an insulating layer. The door of the heated room should not be too large; it only needs to be big enough for 1 person to pass through. Paste flannel around the door and between it and the door frame, and nail burlap, cotton wadding, and so on on the outside of the door to help keep in heat. Honeycomb briquette stoves, electric stoves, sawdust stoves, and firewood stoves can all be used for heating. Generally, for a rearing room with a space of 3 m × 3 m × 2.25 m, placing 1 honeycomb briquette stove is enough.
Factors in centipede activity: centipedes generally come out to move at night, and 20:00 to 23:00 is their peak activity period. Their characteristics are more activity at night and less during the day; more activity when the temperature is above 25°C and less at 10 to 15°C; more activity on nights after rain and less on rainy nights; more activity on windless or lightly windy nights and less on strongly windy nights (wind force above level six). It can thus be seen that the frequency of centipede activity is closely related to meteorological factors such as air temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, rainfall, and light intensity
Distinguishing male and female centipedes
The female's head and back are flatter, rounder, and larger, in a cake shape; the rear margin of the dorsal plate of the 21st segment is relatively flat and round; the body is larger and wider, and the abdomen is thick. The male's head is slightly raised, oval and small, spore-like; the rear margin of the dorsal plate of the 21st segment is also slightly raised and pointed; the body is smaller and narrower, and the abdomen is thinner. Males can make sounds, are relatively short and small, and have a relatively thick abdomen. Under a microscope, the one with a large body shape is male and the small one is female. Observed from the ventral side of the body, it is easy to distinguish male from female: the male has a large ventral plate on the anterior genital segment, has a penis, and retains a pair of genital legs.
Sources of centipede feed
To do a good job in the breeding industry, the first thing to solve is the feed problem. Centipede feed is mainly carnivorous. It must be fresh and clean. Pig lungs, pig hearts, chicken intestines, small fish, frogs, snakes, earthworms, and various insects and meats are all acceptable. Everyone should make reasonable arrangements according to local conditions. Choose whichever is cheaper, easier to obtain, and relatively stable in supply as the staple food. Use others with slightly higher cost as supplementary food. In this way, you can achieve both low cost and rich feed nutrition.
Treatment after being bitten by a centipede
After an ordinary person is bitten by a centipede, swelling, pain, redness, and itching will appear. The pain is paroxysmal, with several needle-like pains within one second, relatively intense, but still within the tolerable range. When just bitten, immediately squeeze out the poisonous blood and rinse with alkaline water. Without treatment, the pain can disappear completely after six to eight hours. During this period, some floral water or essential balm can be applied to relieve symptoms. If the pain is unbearable, you can go to the hospital for a local anesthetic pain-relief injection. Another point needs special mention: centipede venom has the same nature as bee venom. Friends with a history of bee venom allergy should not breed centipedes. Although it is only a one in ten thousand ratio, for people with an allergic constitution, a centipede bite is a terrifying thing. The amount of centipede venom is very large, equivalent to the consequences of N bees stinging at the same time. If after being bitten symptoms such as dizziness, fainting, red rash all over the body, and chills appear, go to the hospital in time for desensitization treatment.
Recently, friends have continuously consulted me about breeding red dragon centipedes and about how profitable various foreign centipedes are. Here, I provide everyone with information on centipede breeding. At present, all medicinal centipedes are the medicinal Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans. They are divided into two types. One has a red head and red legs. One has a red head and yellow legs. These two are authentic medicinal centipedes. They are also called golden-headed centipedes, red-headed centipedes, Tianlong, and so on. Currently, all cultivated medicinal centipedes are the above two types. Friends can look carefully at the pictures to match the mixed alternative names of centipedes currently on the market, so that you can have a clear idea. At present, the red-headed yellow-legged type has higher output and is the mainstream product on the market. Other varieties are not medicinal centipedes, and dealers will not purchase them either. They are not suitable for large-scale breeding. Of course, keeping them as pets is also a good choice.