Common breeding ponds are rectangular, and the size of the pond area can be selected according to specific conditions. The bottom is preferably made of bricks, with cement and sand used to fill the seams. Bricks have strong water seepage capabilities and are better than cement floors. The walls of the pond should be built with bricks, and a layer of "virgin soil" should be filled under the brick floor. On the surface of the soil layer, the inner wall of the enclosure should be smoothed with cement and then glass embedded or plastic film pasted. Adding smooth materials is to effectively prevent centipedes from climbing up the walls and escaping. Therefore, when embedding each piece of glass or pasting the film, it must be done carefully; otherwise, centipedes may use their rows of legs to climb the rough longitudinal seams even if they cannot climb the smooth inner wall, escaping outside the pond. The "virgin soil" in the breeding pond should not contain large amounts of farmyard manure. This kind of soil is relatively pure, contains fewer pathogenic microorganisms, and is less likely to cause pollution inside the pond. Some people add cow dung and other fertilizers as well as chicken feathers and bones into the soil layer in the pond to breed insects as food for centipedes. In fact, this is not a good method because these added substances are not essential nutrients for centipedes but rather provide a medium for microbial (such as bacteria and mold) growth.
For fiberboard boxes, you can nail a 1.5 cm thick wooden board strip into a wooden box. Generally, the width of the box is 50 cm, length 100 cm, height 40 cm, and the box opening has an iron mesh or plastic mesh cover. A layer of plastic film used for food packaging is attached to the inner walls to keep them smooth. The bottom of the box is filled with 5-15 cm of breeding soil, and each wooden box is equipped with 20 roof tiles, placed in stacks of 5 tiles per stack inside the box. The tiles need to be washed and fully absorb water. There should be about 2 cm space left between the stacks for the centipedes to rest. The middle of the box does not have tiles, which serves as both the dining area for the centipedes and their activity place at night. Such wooden boxes can breed 200-300 medium-sized centipedes or 100-150 large centipedes per square meter. The surrounding fiberboards can also be replaced with ethylene flat-woven netting to form a cage similar to a mosquito net. This type of cage is lighter and can be stacked into a three-dimensional cage to save space.
The base area is generally 50 cm x 40 cm, with a height of about 30-40 cm. Too small tanks cannot hold many centipedes, while too large tanks are difficult to move. A layer of gravel is placed at the bottom of the tank, covered by a layer of 5-15 cm of breeding soil. The surface of the soil is stacked with roof tiles, and the height of the tiles should be 10-15 cm lower than the rim of the tank. The rim of the tank is covered with an iron mesh. For small-scale breeding, tanks can be used, but ventilation in tanks is poor, and the bottom tends to accumulate water, making centipedes prone to green stiff disease. Therefore, the breeding density should be controlled. Additionally, attention should be paid to controlling the humidity of the breeding soil, and dry soil should be replaced when the humidity exceeds 20%.
The main methods of breeding centipedes at the Agri-Science People-Oriented Breeding Base include box breeding, tank breeding, and pond breeding. Regardless of the method chosen, gaps and nests for centipedes to hide and rest must be created, and they should be appropriately sized to ensure that centipedes have enough space to move around while allowing easy management by the breeder.
The location for the breeding pond should be on a sunny slope, avoiding water accumulation during the rainy season and preventing direct exposure to cold northern winds in winter, ensuring a warmer microclimate.
By creating proper conditions, the hygiene of the pond environment can be maintained to avoid pollution. Black mold disease in centipedes is related to environmental pollution. The height of the glass-embedded inner wall needs to reach 30-40 cm. Currently, the height of the pond walls (the part above the ground outside the pond) is designed as either 40 cm or as high as 75-100 cm. The significant increase in wall height is to prevent rat intrusion. Some ponds have a feeding circle around the inner walls, 15-20 cm wide, with a shallow water ditch 12 cm wide and 1.5 cm deep outside the feeding circle to provide drinking water for centipedes. Setting up a shallow water ditch can also prevent centipedes from escaping.
In the past, only some soil blocks were piled up inside the walls. Later, broken bricks and tiles were used as resting beds for centipedes. Recently, there have been more standardized centipede nests (resting beds) constructed using whole bricks. This is a major improvement. In a single breeding pond, vertical nests can be constructed in two forms: one is the full horizontal brick style, and the other is the horizontal-vertical brick style. According to experimental observations, there is always a noticeable difference in the number of centipedes leaving the nest at night between the two styles. That is, those coming out of the full horizontal brick nests are clearly much more than those from the horizontal-vertical brick nests. It is speculated that this might be related to the different utilization areas of the two types of nests. Because the effective utilization area of the full horizontal brick nests is larger, and lying horizontally is energy-saving and safe, more centipedes reside there. However, the effective utilization area of the horizontal-vertical brick nests is much smaller, and the vertical space is only suitable for crawling, not for living, hence fewer centipedes reside there. Therefore, when constructing vertical nests, the full horizontal brick style is recommended. Since the old-style nests require higher costs and additional facilities for shading, rain protection, and rodent prevention, a new type of nest with lower cost and no need for additional facilities has been designed. The cross-section of this new nest is shaped like a tower, made of bricks and adobe. As shown in Figure 4-1(C), the outer layer uses bricks (24 cm x 12 cm x 5 cm), while the inner layer uses equally sized adobe blocks, which can be used to construct nests of different sizes and multiple layers. The outer layer made of bricks is resistant to rain, with narrow seams of about 1 cm that allow centipedes to enter and exit while preventing rodent invasion. Using adobe blocks inside not only reduces costs but also improves thermal insulation. During the cooling season, centipedes can move inward or downward, gathering at the bottom of the nest. When winter comes, rice straw can be used to cover the outside. During hibernation, insulating materials can be laid again outside. This tower-shaped nest can be large or small, and larger ones are better for mass breeding outdoors.
Supported by Huazhong Agricultural University: As a key university under the national "211 Project", Huazhong Agricultural University collaborates with Wuhan Agri-Science People-Oriented Biological Engineering Co., Ltd., to jointly research and develop scientific farming techniques for centipede breeding: the People-Oriented No. 2 Golden Head Centipede.
Advanced Technology Advantage: Through years of breeding observation, multiple biological experts and professors of biological engineering from Wuhan Agri-Science People-Oriented Biological Engineering Co., Ltd., and Huazhong Agricultural University, have utilized gene improvement technology to cultivate a new generation of varieties - the People-Oriented No. 2 Golden Head Centipede. Observations show that this variety is simple to breed, gentle in nature, strong in adaptability, fast-growing, highly reproductive, with better medicinal value and more significant economic value, making it an ideal investment project for farmers.
Complete Breeding Facilities: The company leverages agricultural science as its advantage, with life sciences as its specialty, relying on experts and scholars from the Animal Science and Technology College. It focuses on modern bioengineering, special breeding, and insect resource development, integrating scientific research, breeding, teaching, promotion, technical services, production, sales, and import-export trade into a high-tech enterprise. It owns large ecological breeding areas, solar house breeding areas, greenhouse breeding areas, etc., and has set up technical training centers, seedling breeding centers, seed source rooms, incubation rooms, and gene conversion rooms, with excellent infrastructure and a complete system.
Wuhan Agri-Science People-Oriented Company: Upholding the tradition of "diligent reading and hard work," our company is dedicated to "scientific farming." With the business philosophy of "integrity, dedication, realism, innovation, and win-win," we promote the industrial development of centipede resources. We will strive to provide our fellow farmers with higher-quality and higher-yield seedlings, advanced technology, and perfect services. Let us keep pace with the times and jointly create a more brilliant tomorrow.
Wuhan Agri-Science People-Oriented Centipede Breeding Official Website: hm9188.com/index1.asp
Consultation: 027-87672386 or 87672385, Teacher Yu, QQ: 1229441013
Teacher Guo: 15527826158
Address of Hubei Agri-Science People-Oriented Centipede Breeding Base: Room 318, Tianhui Building, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuchang District, Wuhan City.