Predatory mites

[Sarkhan42]

I believe this is the right place to put this, if not mods if you could kindly put it where it belongs.

Essentially, I went to feed my juvenile female stirmi today and noticed about a half dozen to a dozen small brownish orange mites, and of course I assumed the worst. I checked to assure that my stirmi wasn't being parasitized(she wasn't) and then added a few healthy spoonfuls of springtails from my culture to help quell the mites before the population got too big. To my surprise, I watched one of the mites pounce on and kill one of the springtails, and before long saw this repeated several times. I wish I could've gotten pictures but they're simply too darn tiny, but I'm happy to be blessed with little guards for my beautiful girl! I've never ordered predatory mites before and neither has the invert zoo I work for so I have not a clue where they came from. Has anyone ever shared such a pleasant experience?

edit: I'll try and get them IDed and report back

 

[pannaking22]

Predatory mites occasionally pop up in enclosures if the conditions are right. Definitely nice to have since you won't have to worry as much about regular grain mites!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

When the wind blows through the trees, when daylight is too far gone, when seems that there isn't anymore Hope and you can't see the Horizon... when in the distance strange lights illuminates the ghostly ethereal figures of predatory mites there's only one thing to do:

Praise the Goddess 0.1 Pelinobius muticus. Goddess-nacht! Goddess-nacht!

Santa (Holy) Pelinobius muticus, save Us from evil. Santa (Holy) Pelinobius muticus, Pray for our Souls u_u

 

[InvertsandOi]

I had some predatory mites show up in my Ambly enclosure a while back. I was also fascinated. I got rid of them with a substrate change though, cuz I didn't want them spreading to my millipede enclosure, which has a healthy springtail population.

 

[RTTB]

Waxing poetry over predatory mites. Cool.

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

I have them throughout my entire invert rack, and they originated from a dart frog vivarium in the next room over. So far they've persisted, in some cases thrived, for over three years with no interference from me, even in some very dry substrate. I do have one deliberate culture that I culture grain mites for, of which I seed with for fungus gnat control. Living in Florida helps them relocate up to several meters I'm sure as the RH never drops below 50%, since I've found them far from probable sources at times.

One negative that's clear is I'm unable to establish springtails in any enclosure. It for sure puts a damper on mold control when it comes to the stuff isopods won't eat.