ok while doing a bug hunt in my grandmother's yard I found about 10 millipedes.  I see them around my area a lot.  Not the typical round bodied variety, more of the flattened "armored" looking type, I guess some type of flatback millipede.  They are about 1 - 1 1/2 in long, browish orange in color.  I took pics but my wife has the camera. =/

 

Anyway I am looking for any advice on keeping them.  I put in a grape and piece of apple, but it doesn't look like they are taking to them.  Any thoughts on what to feed them??

 

I will post a pic when I get my camera back

try veggies/mixed lettuce, moss, rotting leaves, soft rotting wood, dry cricket food or fishflakes. you can even try bread too. ive kept many different species and that mix of food seems to keep everyone happy.

by the way that type of milli is most likely a polydesmid

i kept mine in a jar with almost no vent and fed them the flowers and plants i found them on. they loved Camillas. i had ~10 species living together and got babies from a number of them in this setup

I have the same species as you have described as pets. I keep them in a jar with some dead bark twigs and some rocks. Keep the jar fairly humid and wet...they should be fine. I live in Southern California too.

thanks guys. My guys seem to be doing fairly well so far. I am using a mixture of dead leaves, bark, fruit and vegies. Waiting to see if I end up with babies =)

one piece of advice when using edible substrate as i was.... watch for mold blooms like a hawk! my whole colony was utterly wiped out in something like 5-7 days from mold. i checked and watered and then a week later, devestation

wow, thanks for the advice. will do