East Asian scorpions are widely distributed in China, generally raised in rural areas and often used as medicine.
Biological characteristics:
Scorpion belongs to Arthropoda, Arachnoidea, Scorpion, Scorpion Family. After mating and fertilization, males and females give birth to young scorpions in about 1 10 days. Young scorpions molt for 6 times and grow into adult scorpions; Food is mainly soft and juicy insects: it has a positive trend to temperature and humidity, and a negative trend to strong light, sound and vibration; The highest activity temperature of various enzymes in the body is 35-40℃.
According to the negative nature of scorpions to light, scorpions have been bred in dark environment for a long time, and their activities such as foraging, mating and reproduction gradually eliminate the influence of circadian rhythm. According to the positive temperature of scorpions, scorpions grow in a relatively constant temperature environment for a long time. After several generations of adaptation, the growth period of scorpions has evolved from three years to 8- 10 months.
External form:
Scorpion belongs to Arthropoda, Arachnoidea, Scorpion, Scorpion family, and its body can be generally divided into three parts: head and chest, front abdomen and back abdomen. The head, chest and front abdomen are together, called trunk, which is flat and rectangular; The posterior abdomen is segmented and tail-shaped, also called tail. The whole body is very similar to pipa, and the surface of the whole body is all hard skin with high chitin. Others directly divide scorpions into trunk and tail. The specific form is shown in the figure.
Growth profile:
Generally speaking, scorpions live in the wild, and it takes about 4 years from young to adult. However, raising in the south and greenhouse can greatly shorten the growth cycle.
Scorpions in the field can be divided into growth period, filling period, dormancy period and recovery period.
1, growing period: from Qingming to Bailu (about 150- 160 days), which is the best period for scorpion to grow and reproduce all year round.
2. Filling period: From the autumnal equinox to the first frost (about 40-50 days), scorpions actively store nutrients and make preparations before entering the sting.
3. Dormancy period: From beginning of winter to rain (about 120 ~ 130 days), the growth and development of scorpions completely stopped, and they were in a dormant and crouching state, and did not eat or drink at all.
4. Recovery period: From the fright of the lunar calendar to Qingming (about 30-50 days), the dormant scorpion gradually began to wake up.
Raising scorpions in greenhouse (south) can greatly shorten the growth cycle. With sufficient food and suitable conditions, young scorpions can grow into adult scorpions after 8 ~ 10 months. Female scorpions can reproduce twice a year, which basically changes the growth time and reproductive cycle of scorpions.
Life cycle:
The life span of scorpions is about 8 years, while the reproductive and farrowing period is about 5 years. According to the growth and development stage, it is divided into 1-7 year old scorpions and pregnant scorpions. Among them, the age of 1-7-year-old scorpions is not calculated by years, but by the number of undressing times. In the greenhouse, young scorpions can grow to 1 ~ 2 years old in about 4 days. It can grow to 2 ~ 3 instars in about 50 days, and to 3 ~ 4 instars in about 105 days. 160 days can grow to 4 ~ 5 years old; 2 15 days can grow to about 5 ~ 6 years old; You can grow to be 6-7 years old in about 280 days.
Physiological habits:
1. Scorpions are animals that lie down during the day and come out at night. They like the tide and fear the wet, and they like the dark and fear the bright light. Like to live in groups, quiet, and have the habit of identifying nests and groups. Most scorpions live together in fixed nests. Generally, in a large group of scorpion nests, most of them are female, male, big and small, live in harmony and rarely hurt each other. But if they are not the same scorpion, they often kill each other after meeting.
Scorpions have the habit of hibernating. Generally, it emerged after being stimulated in the middle and late April, and began to hibernate slowly in early October of165438+1. The annual activity time is about 6 months. During the day, scorpions usually come out from 8 pm to 1 1 after sunset and return to their nests at 2 ~ 3 am the next day. This activity pattern is generally in warm, windless and dry nights, and rarely occurs in windy weather.
3. Scorpion is a temperature-changing animal, but it is still relatively cold-resistant and heat-resistant. The temperature of the external environment is 40℃ to MINUS 5℃, and scorpions can survive. The growth, development and reproduction of scorpions are closely related to temperature. When the temperature drops below 10℃, scorpions become less active. When the temperature is below 20℃, scorpions are not very active. The optimum temperature for their growth and development is between 25℃ and 39℃. When the temperature is 35 ~ 39℃, scorpions are the most active, and their growth and development are accelerated, and most of them mate in this temperature range. When the temperature exceeds 4 1℃, the water in the scorpion is evaporated. If the temperature is not lowered in time and the water is not replenished in time, scorpions will easily dehydrate and die. When the temperature exceeds 43℃, scorpions die quickly. The activity, growth and reproduction of scorpions are closely related to temperature, and the optimum temperature is between 35 and 38℃. Therefore, when we breed scorpions artificially, we must pay attention.
4. The growth and reproduction of scorpions are also closely related to the humidity of the external environment. Wild scorpions in nature, if it doesn't rain for a long time, will go underground to hide in a wet place about 1 m; When it rains, when there is water on the ground, they will climb to high places to escape. Therefore, when raising scorpions, we should pay great attention to the moisture of feed, the humidity of breeding grounds and nests. Generally speaking, the scorpion's activity place should be wet, and their nest should be slightly dry, which is conducive to the growth, development and reproduction of scorpions. If the nest is too wet, it is easy to be invaded by microorganisms, and it is difficult for scorpions to shed their skin. If the scorpion's activity place is too dry and the water in the feed is insufficient, it will also affect the normal growth and development of scorpions and even induce cannibalism.
5. Scorpions like darkness and are afraid of light, especially the stimulation of strong light, but in order to absorb the heat of the sun, improve digestion ability, accelerate growth and development, and facilitate the process of hatching pregnant scorpions, they also need a certain degree of light. According to reports and observations, scorpions have a positive tropism to weak light and a negative tropism to strong light, but they like to move in weak green light best.
6. Scorpions have a strong aversion to all kinds of strong smells, such as paint, gasoline, kerosene, asphalt and various chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, quicklime and so on. It can be seen that their sense of smell is very sensitive, and the stimulation of these substances is very unfavorable and even fatal to scorpions. Scorpions are also very sensitive to all kinds of strong vibrations and sounds, and sometimes even scare them away, stop eating, mating and breeding, giving birth and so on.