CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How long does a centipede grow?

1. How long is the growth cycle of centipedes?

The female centipede begins laying eggs on the 40th day, and lays the fertilized eggs on its back so that they can hatch in time. Each female centipede takes 2-3 hours to ovulate, and lays 80-150 eggs each time. The surface of the eggs is rich in mucus, and the eggs stick together to form an egg mass. During the incubation period, the female centipede does not eat or drink until the young centipedes hatch.

2. How many years does it take for a centipede to lay eggs? How many years does it take for a centipede to reach sexual maturity?

3-4 years.

Centipedes need to molt several times from hatching eggs to larval development and growth until they become adults. They grow significantly larger each time they molt. Adult centipedes generally molt once a year, and some may molt twice. Before molting, the dorsal wings of adult centipedes become dull, their body color changes from dark green to light green with a hint of burnt yellow, their legs change from red to yellow, their bodies become thick and slow, they do not eat, their vision and sense of touch decrease, and they cannot escape quickly after being prodded.

When molting, the centipede uses the front end of its head to push against a stone wall or a mud wall, and then pushes up the head plate. Then it sheds its skin segment by segment by segment, and the body and legs are shed from front to back. When the body segments are molted to the 7th or 8th segment, the antennae are shed. Finally, the tail legs are shed. The shed old skin is wrinkled, and when it is straightened, it is a complete centipede shell. Adult centipedes generally shed one segment every 4-6 minutes, and it takes about 2 hours to shed all of them. Avoid disturbing them when molting, otherwise it will prolong the molting time. When the centipede is molting, it is even more important to prevent groups of ants from attacking it, because the centipede has no ability to resist when molting, and the new skin is fresh and tender, which is easy to be bitten by ants.

Centipedes do not grow fast. They only grow to 3-4 cm from the time the eggs hatch into larvae in the first year before hibernation in the same year. Before coming out of hibernation in the second year, there is plenty of food, but they only grow to about 3.5-6 cm. They only grow to more than 10 cm in the third year. Therefore, it takes a full 3-4 years for centipedes to grow from eggs to adults and lay eggs again. The size of the larvae of centipedes laid in the early and late stages of egg laying is very different in the same year. The growth speed of the year is closely related to whether there is enough food and the length of the feeding period. In artificial breeding, it was found that centipedes born in the same year did not grow as fast as those fed artificially indoors if they were raised naturally on an isolated island.

3. Is this a centipede larva? Can the larva spin silk? Is it hanging in the air? If not, what kind of animal is it?

It is not the larva of a centipede, as centipedes cannot spin silk; it should be the larva of a poisonous moth, commonly known as a caterpillar.