Culture and processing technology of centipede

Centipede, also known as dragon, centipede, is a common traditional medicine, indicated convulsion, tetanus and swelling snake injury.

I. Habits

Centipede afraid of sunlight, day out at night. During the day, they usually inhabit hillsides, fields, roadsides or overgrown places, especially like to hide in abandoned trenches, deserted graves, roadside crevices, stones and rubble. From mango seed to summer solstice, centipedes like to live in dark, humid, warm, sheltered and airy places as the temperature rises gradually. To the late autumn season, then more than habitat in the leeward sunny loose ditch slope or tree hole. When the temperature is below 100 ℃, it stops eating and enters hibernation at minus 7℃. Hibernating centipede no longer active, do not eat, the body into "S"-shaped, tentacles from the outside to the inside curl, tail foot close together. The depth of overwintering incubation is directly related to the temperature and soil temperature.

Centipede from egg hatching, larval development until adult, need to go through several molting. Every time you shed your skin, you grow significantly. Adult centipedes shed their skin once a year, and individual centipedes shed their skin twice. Avoid alarm when molting, otherwise it will prolong molting time (usually about 2 hours). At this point, but also to prevent groups of ants attack, because the centipede molting no resistance. The centipede grows slowly. It grows to 3cm~4cm from egg hatching to larva in the first year, 3.5cm~6cm in the second year and more than 10cm in the third year. Therefore, centipede from egg development to adult to lay eggs, it takes 3 to 4 years.

II. Pool construction

Artificial culture centipede can be used tank or pond culture. The cylinder is maintained by using a worn tile cylinder or ceramic cylinder, the narrowest diameter is more than 0.5m, the mouth is buried in the soil about 20cm downward, the middle of the cylinder is built with broken bricks or adobe, which is about 10cm lower than the cylinder surface, and a certain gap is reserved between the adobe in the middle of the cylinder and the cylinder wall. If you use a complete jar, do not knock off the bottom, directly in the jar base adobe can be. An 80cm diameter tank can hold about 200 adult centipedes.

When using pond culture, the culture pond should be built in a humid and secluded place with sunny ventilation and good drainage conditions, which can be built indoors or outdoors. It is made of bricks or stones, plastered with cement, 80cm high, and the size of the culture pond is random, generally 5m2~10m2. The ground is paved with fine stones or broken tiles. Weeds and trees can also be planted in the pool to create a natural ecological environment suitable for centipede habitat. The inner wall of the pool is pasted with smooth and undamaged plastic film or a circle of inner eaves with a width of about 15cm and a right angle to the pool wall is inlaid around the pool mouth with glass sheets to prevent centipedes from escaping and harmful animals from falling into the pool. Generally, about 500 ~900 adult centipedes can be stocked in each square meter of culture pond.

III. Mating and laying eggs

The centipede's life span is only 6 years. After sexual maturity, it usually mates in the morning of sunny days after rain in March ~ May and July ~ August, and begins to lay eggs in 40 days. Before laying eggs, centipede abdomen almost close to the ground, dig a good hole. When laying eggs, centipede body curved into "S" shape, after a few steps foot support, tail foot upturned, antenna forward extension, and then a string of eggs from the reproductive hole discharge. The egg laying process takes about 3 hours, 80 ~150 eggs are laid each time, there is mucus on the surface of the eggs, the eggs stick together into egg blocks, during the incubation period, the female centipede does not eat or drink until the young centipede is hatched. After laying eggs, centipede turns its body skillfully, gathers eggs into a group with its feet, and hatches them in its arms. The incubation time is 43 ~50 days.

Centipede eggs were oval, varying in size, beige, translucent. The egg mass hatches slowly, and has no significant change in the first 5 days. After 10 days, the egg becomes long and flat; after half a month, the egg becomes kidney shape, and the middle scar line is cracked; after 20 days, it becomes crescent shape; after 1 month, it begins to take the form of larva and squirms in the arms of female centipede; after 35 ~40 days, centipede larva has crawled up and down; after 43 ~45 days, larva separates from mother and moves independently and forages by itself.

IV. Food habits

Centipede belongs to carnivorous animals, like to eat small insects. Centipedes have venom that can kill small animals larger than themselves. The small animals eaten are mealworms, crickets, rice worms, scarabs, termites, cicadas, dragonflies, spiders, flies, bees and their eggs, pupae, larvae and so on. Can also feed some worms, earthworms, snails and all kinds of livestock, aquatic animals meat, viscera, blood, cartilage, etc., but also eat fruit skin, potatoes, carrots, tender vegetables, etc., other such as milk, bread, etc., but to ensure that the food is fresh.

V. MANAGEMENT

1. Keep quiet environment: centipede spawning, hatching requires a quiet environment, if disturbed, often eat eggs and larvae phenomenon. Generally, in the same breeding pond, the female spawning time is inconsistent. The females that have not laid eggs often interfere with the normal progress of laying and hatching, and some even rob the eggs. Therefore, before laying eggs, females should be kept separately or isolated in large breeding ponds with glass, bottomless glasses or cans.

2. Prenatal strengthening feeding: centipedes do not eat or drink during incubation, relying on their own nutrition to maintain activities. Before laying eggs, females have the habit of eating a large amount of accumulated nutrients. At this time, they should increase the feeding amount and pay attention to adjusting the food types to encourage females to eat more and increase the nutrition before hatching.

3. Incubation period management: centipede eggs during the nursery period, on the disturbance, vibration, strong light, strong sound, etc. have a certain response. Therefore, the breeding room must choose a quiet and dark place. It is best to install red lights indoors and cover windows with cloth or bamboo curtains to prevent strong light. Incubation tank in the room should be placed in advance, once spawning, do not move easily. Do not move the protective glass (press) or shine a flashlight. If the humidity in the incubation nest is too small, it will affect the normal development of the embryo, so the incubation tank should be filled with water at the right time. When adding water, it should be poured slowly along the tank wall to make the inner wall around the hatching nest slightly moist. When hatching is over, centipedes compete for food and eat small phenomena, should be timely removed from the female body or the larvae sub-litter feeding.

4. To pay attention to feeding density: centipede body length must be observed, body size changes and grouping, sub-pool feeding. At the same time to prevent centipede escape.

In addition, keep the feed clean and hygienic, especially the bait contaminated with pesticides must not be fed. Regular observation to prevent centipede natural enemies into the breeding pond, timely eliminate sick centipede.

VI. Processing method

Medicinal centipede for dry whole. After catching, blanch to death with boiling water, then insert a thin bamboo stick with two sharpened ends into the head and tail, straighten it with the help of the elasticity of bamboo chips, and dry it in the sun. The processed centipede is flat strip shape, 14cm~16cm long, 0.6 cm ~ 1.0 cm wide, 22 segments in total.