Ecological Breeding Technology of Centipedes
Regarding the artificial technology of centipedes, up to now, there has been no technical report on aspects such as artificial induction of labor, artificial insemination, and artificial hatching. Moreover, such technologies have not been applied in production. The reproduction of centipedes can only rely on natural mating, natural egg-laying, natural hatching, and rearing offspring. Below are some key issues to focus on during the reproductive stage of centipedes.
Through careful observation, it was found that female centipedes that have already mated or are about to give birth should be promptly caught and placed in individual breeding environments. What we call "individual breeding environment" is very simple to make; the simplest method involves using glass bottles or canned food bottles, with 1/3 to 2/3 of the bottle filled with breeding soil. A plastic lid is placed on top, with many small holes drilled into it. Each bottle contains one female centipede. Alternatively, discarded tin cans can be used by removing their bottom, inserting one end of the can into a container such as a basin with approximately 8 cm of breeding soil, or directly inserting it into the breeding soil of the breeding pool. Ensure that the lower edge tightly adheres to the bottom of the pool, with the breeding soil inside being about 5-8 cm thick. The upper part of the can is covered with window screen. This creates an individual hatching nest for each female centipede. Such isolated hatching nests allow the female centipede to lay eggs and hatch them quietly without interference from other centipedes. Experiments have proven that using individual hatching nests significantly increases the egg-laying rate compared to not using them.
If it is uncertain whether the female centipede has already mated with a male centipede and whether semen has been stored in her body, female and male centipedes should be bred together to provide them with an opportunity to mate. The best sex ratio should be set at 4:1 (females to males), and cyclic crossbreeding can be adopted.
After placing the female centipedes in individual hatching nests, sufficient food should not be provided during the egg-laying period. Drinking water can be supplied by attaching a small sponge to the wall of the hatching nest tube, and daily using a dropper to drip water onto the sponge until it is saturated with water. Feed can be placed on a small piece of paper and put on the breeding soil, changing the paper daily and observing its feeding condition.
Once the food provided over 7-10 days has not been touched by the centipede, this indicates that the female centipede may have already entered the breeding soil to lay eggs and is currently hatching. At this point, feeding and watering should be stopped. The incubation and rearing period for female centipedes is approximately 45 days. During this time, they do not eat or drink, fully focusing on raising their offspring. Special attention should be paid during this period: maintain environmental quietness as much as possible, avoid suddenly turning on strong lights in the breeding room, avoid moving the centipedes and hatching nests, prevent other insects like centipedes from entering the hatching nest, and maintain relative balance in environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. In short, avoid sudden stimuli and disturbances to the female centipedes during the hatching period; otherwise, the female centipede will immediately consume her own egg mass or young ones, leading to hatching failure.
Nowadays, scientific farming is emphasized. The farming of centipedes also seeks scientific rationality, where reasonable farming methods can effectively improve farming quality and quantity.
1. Site Selection: The site for farming centipedes must be dry, well-ventilated, facing the sun, with trees planted around the enclosure for shade and cooling, ensuring warmth in winter and coolness in summer. The drainage ditches around the centipede enclosures and exercise areas should be unobstructed, with level ground to facilitate cleaning feces and urine.
2. Enclosure Farming of Hybrid Baby Centipedes: Hybrid centipedes have characteristics such as fast growth, tolerance to coarse feed, strong disease resistance, easy fattening, and high meat yield. According to experiments, the first generation of hybrid centipedes grows faster than local purebred centipedes by 0%-0%, with lower feeding costs.
3. High-Density Enclosure Farming Method: Each enclosure covers 0- square meters, housing 0- commercial centipedes per enclosure. Males and females are separated and housed in different sections, making feeding easier, saving labor and feed, and simplifying operations. Enclosure farming saves 00-00 grams of feed per day per centipede compared to free-range farming, increasing daily weight gain by 0%-0%, and allowing earlier market entry by 0 days.
4. Castration for Fattening: When male centipedes reach a certain stage of growth and development, their sexual organs develop, increasing their activity and energy consumption. Therefore, timely castration should be performed when they are two months old to reduce activity and enhance fattening speed. The castration method can use "Veterinary Castration Injection," following the instructions for simple, safe, reliable operation with no side effects and good results.
5. Adding Anesthetics to Feed: Feeding centipedes with hypnotics makes them calm and sleep more, reducing biting between centipedes. This accelerates weight gain, reduces diseases, and lowers costs. Common drugs include Datura flowers, Aconite flowers, Drunken Fish Grass, and Drunken Peach.
6. Utilizing Local Feed Resources to Lower Feeding Costs: Centipedes are omnivorous, so local feed resources can be utilized based on availability, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, wheat, sorghum, corn, grains, and vegetables. The daily diet of centipedes should contain 7%- protein to ensure rapid growth and development. Leftovers from slaughterhouses or restaurants, after harmless treatment, can also be utilized.
7. Epidemic Prevention and Disease Control: Prevent infectious diseases and parasitic diseases in centipedes. Severe diseases mainly include rabies, canine distemper, canine enteritis, and canine hepatitis. Vaccination with pentavalent canine vaccines can be selected, combined with intramuscular injection of "immunoglobulin" for good results. Additionally, maintaining hygiene and disinfection in the animal farm is important.
Adopting the "All-in, All-out" system. After weaning, puppies are raised under anesthesia, comprehensively fattened for one month, reaching -0 kg in weight, which is the optimal time for market release with a feed-to-meat ratio of :. Once fattened, all young centipedes are sold out in one batch, improving farming efficiency.