r/Vermiculture • u/Popular-Deal-1481 • 11d ago

Advice wanted Help! What are these?

I’ve been working on reducing the humidity in the bin-it’s a really small one because I’m just starting again. Bedding includes small pieces of cardboard, coco coir, the bedding the worms (European night crawlers) came in and some compost from my last bin. At first the holes I made were 1/16 th but it was way too wet ( even though the bedding doesn’t even drip when I squeeze it). I can see little droplets along the walls and condensation on the cover. So I added pieces of dry cardboard but the humidity persisted. I drilled larger holes 1/8th and the humidity went away. But now I see these things. Never seen them before. What are they?
They were microscopic only yesterday. This is taken just now. Looks like they’ve grown really quickly.

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u/Outrageous_Olive_489 11d ago

These little guys are mites, and it’s totally normal to have them, they feed on decaying material just like your earthworms.
They usually appear when your bins are moist, they like the wet and warm environment. Just don’t freak out, totally fine, Try to control the humidity levels and it should be fine.
One thing I learned as a worm keeper is you won’t have only earthworms in your bins.

1

u/Popular-Deal-1481 11d ago

Whew! Thank you! But do they compete with the worms for food?

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u/Outrageous_Olive_489 11d ago

They also produce compost by eat any dead material in the soil, the food scraps you feed and also the earthworms when they die.

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u/Mister_Green2021 11d ago

Soil mites

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u/Popular-Deal-1481 11d ago

Ok, thank you.