Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My millipede has been acting very strange for the past few days. I have a brown desert millipede (sold as a Peruvian pede but I think it's the kind found in Arizona and Mexico) and he's about 5 inches long. Last night after I fed my pedes, he started acting like he was in pain and writhing around a bit.
This morning, he stretched out in the tank - completely stiff. I thought he had died, so I took him out and stretched him out a bit more to look at him. He wasn't moving at all and his feelers were tucked in.
After a few minutes I saw a leg move...then another. It was like he started coming back to life again. I thought maybe he was cold so I took him out into the sun but he still wouldn't move much. He can move his legs and head but he won't curl up.
Does anyone know what might be wrong? I thought maybe it was time for him to molt. I've been keeping African pedes for several years and never saw them molt. I heard they molt a piece at a time, not the whole exoskeleton. But maybe it's different for these brown pedes. Any ideas?

When mine are ready to molt they always seem limp and don't feel like moving but still curl up when you blow on them. I never assume a millipede is dead unless it smells like dead millipede, and if you don't know how bad that smells I guess you will eventually.