Breeding
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When I got my first two millipedes I could not for the life of me work out how to sex them despite reading different sources. Some websites say the male has a set of modified legs on the 7th segment, others said it was the 3rd. You may never really get the hang of it unless you either have largeish millipedes which can be viewed easily or if you have a lot of millipedes that are mixed sexes so you may compare. Immature males can look a lot like females and if the millipede is a small one then it may be difficult to identify the segments never mind try to see what's on them.

This little American millipede shows a clear gap in the legs of his 7th segment. There is no doubt he is a male while the individual on the right does not have a gap in her legs

The males sexual organs (gonopods) are on the 7th segment of his body and may be visible or hidden. If they are visible you will be able to see them however if they are hidden you will only be able to see a gap where the legs would normally be. As you can see from the picture above it is fairly easy to tell the sex of millipedes if you can get a good look at their underside and have a mix of sexes.

With some species there is a courtship ritual involved before mating takes place. This varies between species so I won't try to define it, things to for include...

  • Male lining up beside the female
  • Male vibrating his legs
  • Male crawling on top of the female

If the female wishes to mate she will raise her front end and the male will do the same. The male and female may entwine themselves (this can sometimes look quite rough), the male will use his gonopods to grasp the female and sperm will be passed between them. This might happen a few times.
When the female is ready to lay she will create a chamber in the compost and deposit the eggs in this. Some species will make this chamber out of compost others will use dung which the young have to eat to get out. Some even lay their eggs INSIDE their little dung pellets.

The eggs are a creamy yellowy whitey colour and should be a spherical shape. The young when they are born could easily be mistaken for beetle grubs. They range in colour from creamy yellow to pure white and have three pairs of legs to their names along with a few legless segments. They SHOULD NOT be moved at this stage as they are very delicate and develop and grow better if simply left alone. Make sure there is a plentiful food supply and be careful about throwing out old food. It may be easy to mistake the baby millipedes for things like maggots so have a look for tiny little antennae. Another good thing to look at is the animals behaviour - even the smallest baby millipede will curl up if it feels threatened.
The young millipedes are slow growing and it can be 4-6 months or more before it becomes obvious what species they are. Look for them under any old pieces of wood or other food that you leave in the tank.