Jiangsu Taishan Centipede Breeding, Jiangsu Yancheng Centipede Breeding Technology, Jiangsu Yangzhou Centipede Breeding Prospects
Nongke惠民Breeding Farm specializes in breeding golden head centipedes and feedmealworms, integrating breeding, sales, and product recycling into a large-scale breeding farm. We are pragmatic and trustworthy, helping our customers breed golden head centipedes and mealworms well with the least investment for maximum returns.
Huazhong Agricultural University Support: A key university under the national "211 Project" - Huazhong Agricultural University collaborates with Wuhan Nongke惠民Biological Engineering Co., Ltd. to jointly research and commit to scientific farming and technological enrichment of centipede breeding technology:惠民No. 2 Golden Head Centipede.
Advanced Technical Advantages: Wuhan Nongke惠民Biological Engineering Co., Ltd., together with multiple biological experts and professors of bioengineering from Huazhong Agricultural University, through years of breeding observation, has used selective purification techniques and biological gene improvement engineering to cultivate a new generation variety -惠民No. 2 Golden Head Centipede. After feeding observations, this variety is simple to raise, gentle-tempered, adaptable, grows quickly, reproduces at high rates, has better medicinal value, and more significant economic value, making it an ideal investment project for many breeders.
Complete Breeding Facilities: The company leverages agricultural science as its advantage and life sciences as its feature, relying on experts and scholars from the Animal Science and Technology College, focusing on modern bioengineering, special breeding, and insect resource development. It integrates 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 greenhouses, greenhouse breeding zones, and has separate technical training centers, seedling cultivation centers, germplasm rooms, hatching rooms, and genetic transformation rooms, providing excellent infrastructure and a complete system.
Wuhan Nongke惠民Company: Upholding the tradition of "diligent reading and hard work, self-establishment and helping others," our company takes "scientific agriculture" as its mission, using the business philosophy of "integrity, dedication, realism, innovation, win-win" to promote the industrial development of centipede resources. We are committed to providing our fellow farmers with higher quality and higher yield seedlings, more advanced technology, and more comprehensive services. Let us keep pace with the times and jointly create a more brilliant tomorrow.
Wuhan Nongke惠民Centipede Breeding Official Website: hm9188.com/index1.asp
Consultation: 027-87672386 or 87672385 Mr. Yu, contact QQ for more details: 1229441013
Mr. Guo: 1 5 5 2 7 8 2 6 1 5 8
Hubei Nongke惠民Centipede Breeding Base Address: Room 318, Tianhui Building, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuchang District, Wuhan City
Centipedes are traditional important animal medicines, whose medicinal properties and uses are clearly described in famous medical literature such as Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica." Their sources are distributed in provinces south of the Yangtze River, mainly produced in Hubei and Zhejiang provinces, identified as the original animal species, less spiny centipedes. According to reports, Zhejiang mainly produces in Hai Ning and Daishan regions of Jiaxing area. Due to changes in the production environment, over the past one or two decades, the annual capture volume in the Jiaxing area has decreased from two million to more than ten thousand. To increase centipede resources and develop artificial breeding, small-scale indoor artificial breeding and island release trials have been conducted. In Zhoushan area, the wild medicinal centipede resources were analyzed, studying their population structure and capture volume. Research on the biological characteristics of centipedes was carried out in the centipede trial breeding field, observing and studying the egg-laying amount, egg-laying period, brooding period, oophagy and re-egg-laying after oophagy, molting rules during centipede growth, life cycle and reproductive cycle, centipede dietary habits, etc., providing scientific basis for artificial centipede breeding. In breeding management technology, breakthroughs were made in live gender identification, increasing hatching rate, and accumulating some experience in overcoming mold diseases, drying, and feed difficulties. In 1976 and 1978, adult centipedes were released on Hengle Mountain Island, and by 1980, it was observed that all generations of new centipedes could grow actively, proving the success of island release. Selecting suitable islands for centipede release is also one of the directions for developing breeding.
(1) Living Habits
Centipedes mainly live in low mountain areas with few stones and soil, with only a small distribution in plain areas. After the Awakening of Insects each year, as temperatures rise, centipedes awaken from winter sleep and begin to emerge and become active, preferring to reside in damp grasslands or rocky ditches. From Grain Buds to Summer Solstice, as temperatures gradually increase, they gradually move to cool trenches, graveyards, ridges, or soil banks' crevices to avoid daytime heat. In late autumn, they mostly inhabit wind-sheltered, sun-facing loose soil slopes or warmer tree holes and roots. In summary, centipedes fear light and prefer darkness, being active at night and resting during the day, preferring to live in dark, damp, warm, and ventilated caves. Therefore, when artificially breeding centipedes, efforts should be made to create living conditions according to their living habits. For example, planting trees and grass, placing bricks and tiles in the breeding field are measures taken to meet the centipedes' environmental requirements.
Centipedes generally come out alone at night. Although they have eight single eyes, their vision is weak, especially poor during the day. When moving separately, they only detour when their antennae touch, avoiding each other. On clear, windless nights, 20-23 hours is their peak activity time. Their activity features include more nighttime activity and less daytime activity; more activity when the temperature is above 25°C and less activity when it is between 10-15°C; almost no activity or stopping activity below 10°C; more activity on hot, humid, and rainy nights and less activity on cold nights; more activity on windless or slightly windy nights and less activity on windy (wind force above six) nights; more activity on rainy nights and less activity on rainy days. Therefore, the frequency of centipede activity is closely related to meteorological factors such as temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, rainfall, and light intensity. These meteorological factors should be considered when artificially breeding centipedes. Additionally, centipedes have strong seam-drilling capabilities, allowing them to smoothly pass through rock and soil seams and reside in these cracks.
In cases where centipede density is too high or disturbances are frequent, mutual killing can easily lead to death. However, under breeding conditions, with improvements in living environment and breeding conditions, such as providing sufficient fresh feed and water sources and minimizing disturbances to their lives, even if the breeding density is relatively high, it will not significantly affect their lives. Especially for centipedes born from the same mother, since they have lived together since childhood, even when dozens of them curl up together as adults, they can coexist harmoniously. Therefore, providing sufficient fresh feed and water sources and maintaining a quiet environment are essential conditions for artificial centipede breeding.
(2) Capture
It is generally best to capture centipedes around the Qingming Festival. Centipedes are oviparous insects. Based on their preference for shade, moisture, quietness, and fear of strong light, choose forest-covered or hillside shaded areas as capture sites. Place chicken feathers, bones, or dead leaves and grass in these areas to attract centipedes to rest and lay eggs, then pick up the eggs before the Qingming Festival. When picking up the eggs, bring back the soil along with branches and grass, place them in the breeding pool or breeding tank, cover them, and incubate them. During the incubation period, gently turn the covering material frequently to prevent invasion by other pests and ensure smooth and safe hatching of young ones.
(3) Feeding Management
1) Feed: Centipedes are typical carnivorous insects, quite fierce, capturing various small animals using their venom-injecting jaw claws. Centipedes have a wide range of food sources. From field observations and trial breeding results, combined with experiences from various breeding practices, the main feeds for centipedes include the following categories: One category consists of various insects, such as crickets, locusts, tobacco beetles, scarab beetles, rice bagworms, hornworms, cicadas, grasshoppers, dragonflies, spiders, flies, and bees in their adult, pupa, larva, and egg stages. Another category includes worms, earthworms, snails, slugs, and vertebrates like frogs, snakes, lizards, geckos, sparrows, mice, and bats in the form of muscles, bones, and internal organs. Yet another category, when the above food sources are insufficient, includes small amounts of tender grass, twigs, root tips, melons like watermelon and cucumber, as well as cooked products like eggs, milk, and bread. Additionally, centipedes bred artificially in Zhejiang mainly consume loaches, eels, small fish, shrimp, and crabs.
Although centipedes have a broad and varied diet, they require fresh food and do not eat spoiled food. Therefore, when breeding artificially, fresh feed must be provided every 2-3 days. Before feeding, any remaining food from the previous session must be thoroughly cleared. Centipedes have a large appetite and strong hunger resistance. When hungry, they can consume up to 1/5 to 3/5 of their body weight in one meal. After eating enough, they can survive without food for ten to fifteen days without starving. Additionally, centipedes cannot tolerate thirst and need water daily. Therefore, water containers must be placed in the breeding field and water changed regularly to maintain fresh and clean drinking water.
2) Egg-laying and Hatching: Late spring to early summer each year is the egg-laying season for centipedes. Each female centipede generally lays 20-60 eggs, most commonly 40-50 eggs, and fewer than 10 eggs. Before laying eggs, the centipede’s abdomen tightly adheres to the ground, digging a shallow hole. During egg-laying, the centipede's body curves into an "S" shape, producing eggs one by one in series into the self-dug shallow hole. Without external disturbance, egg-laying takes about 2-3 hours. After laying, the centipede immediately turns its body sideways, using its legs to gather the eggs into a cluster, holding them in its "arms" for hatching. The laid eggs are elliptical, varying in size, with a general diameter of about 3-3.5mm, yellowish in color, semi-transparent, and with elastic membranes.
The hatching time for centipede eggs is relatively long, usually requiring 43-50 days. During the hatching process, both the external appearance and internal structure change gradually as the embryo develops. After about a month, the initial larval form appears inside the egg, measuring approximately 1.2cm in length, with visible wriggling of the larvae inside the egg membrane. Around 35-40 days later, the larvae measure approximately 1.5cm in length and can crawl up and down but still cannot leave the mother. Around 43-45 days later, the larvae measure approximately 2.5cm in length and can leave the mother to find food independently. Throughout the entire hatching period, the mother has already stored enough nutrients and does not need to be fed. Otherwise, it may cause contamination of the eggs or larvae by food, leading the mother to eat them, affecting the hatching rate and survival rate of the larvae.
During the hatching period, the mother never leaves the egg cluster or larvae, carefully hatching and guarding them. She often uses her antennae to swing her body to drive away nearby small insects and frequently uses her feeding claws to manipulate or suckle the egg cluster or larvae. Observations suggest that the liquid secreted by the base glands of the mother's feeding claws or oral glands cleans the egg cluster or larvae, preventing bacterial infection and contamination by other substances.
If disturbed externally during the egg-laying or hatching period, centipedes will stop laying eggs and eat all the eggs already laid or in the hatching process. This is known as the "protective" reaction of centipedes. After eating the eggs, centipedes can often relay and hatch eggs again. However, this significantly delays the egg-laying and hatching periods, reduces the number of eggs laid, and lowers the hatching rate, affecting the quantity and quality of centipedes. Therefore, during artificial breeding, it is necessary to maintain a quiet surrounding environment during the egg-laying and hatching periods of centipedes to avoid disturbing them, which is an important matter to note in breeding management.
3) Molting and Growth Development: Centipedes belong to the crustacean class of arthropods, with chitin shells covering their bodies, restricting further growth and development. To break free from the restriction of the shell on further growth and development, centipedes molt several times during their growth process. Each molt results in a noticeable increase in size. Embryonic development involves three molts, while adults generally molt once a year, and occasionally twice.
Molting mostly occurs during midsummer or after egg-laying. Before molting, the body color changes, movements slow down, they stop eating, and their vision and antennae abilities weaken. During molting, it proceeds sequentially from front to back, finally shedding the tail legs. The shed old skin appears wrinkled and contracted, stretching out to form a complete centipede shell. Molting takes about 2 hours to complete. Disturbance during molting should be avoided, as it can prolong the molting time. In artificial breeding, care must be taken to prevent attacks by ants and other predators during molting, as they can easily bite and injure the centipedes.
Centipedes develop slowly. In the first year, the larvae grow only about 3.3-3.9 cm before winter hibernation, and in the second year, under sufficient food conditions, they grow only about 4.9-6.6 cm. Therefore, it generally takes 3-4 years for centipedes to develop from larvae to sexually mature adults. The speed of growth and development is closely related to whether the food supply is sufficient and the length of feeding time. It has been found in artificial breeding that centipedes produced in the same year grow faster under indoor breeding compared to natural breeding. Thus, providing sufficient fresh feed is one of the important conditions for increasing their yield.
4) Overwintering: Centipedes are ectothermic animals, and changes in external temperatures greatly affect their lives. Cold winters pose a threat to their survival. To escape the cold winter, they burrow underground and hibernate. During hibernation, they do not eat or move, and their bodies form an "S" or "L" shape. The depth of burrowing is directly related to the air and soil temperatures. The lower the air and soil temperatures, the deeper they burrow; the higher the air and soil temperatures, the shallower they burrow. Under normal air and soil temperatures, they mostly hibernate at depths of 15-40 cm in the soil; when air and soil temperatures are low, they may hibernate at depths of 80-100 cm. If soil temperatures rise, it can delay hibernation time and allow hibernation in shallower soil layers or even on the surface. Clearly, soil temperature is the key factor affecting the length of hibernation and the depth of hibernation. Therefore, in breeding, artificially raising the soil temperature in the hibernation area can shorten hibernation time, ensuring safe winter survival, and relatively increase the normal activity period of centipedes, which is beneficial to improving the yield of farmed centipedes. For example, before centipedes enter winter hibernation, dig pits 80-100 cm deep in the breeding field, mix the excavated soil with collected garbage mud ash at a ratio of 2:1, pour it back into the pit to level it. Then lay an appropriate amount of brick and tile fragments, place the centipedes, cover with a layer of fine soil, and finally cover with branches and dry grass. This improves the wintering environment for centipedes.
Before improving the wintering environment conditions, the soil temperature was low, with significant fluctuations in morning, noon, and evening soil temperatures. After improvement, the soil temperature rises significantly, with smaller fluctuations in morning, noon, and evening temperatures, basically maintaining stable soil temperatures throughout the day, which is beneficial for safe centipede wintering. There are many benefits to improving the wintering environment for centipedes, mainly including: ① Deep plowing loosens the soil, improving air circulation in the soil layer. With fine soil and dry grass covering the surface, heat loss from beneath the brick and tile fragments is reduced, enhancing insulation capacity. Heat from the soil is easily dissipated between the brick and tile fragments, reducing the temperature difference between morning, noon, and evening. ② Brick and tile fragments absorb moisture, creating the damp environment required by centipedes. The larger gaps between the brick and tile fragments facilitate centipede movement and habitation. ③ Mixing garbage mud ash with the soil accelerates decomposition, releasing a large amount of heat energy, raising and stabilizing soil temperatures, thereby shortening the hibernation period of centipedes. ④ Increasing organic matter and microorganisms in the soil promotes the proliferation of various small insects, providing fresh natural food for centipedes, effectively achieving "natural feeding" for centipedes. Therefore, improving the environmental conditions of the centipede wintering site is an effective method to help them survive the winter safely and should be promoted. Moreover, after centipedes recover their activity after wintering, the breeding site must be sealed off to prevent their escape.