Red Spider Mites or something else?

[Becca]

Ok....I just saw this little bug crawling around on an orchid leaf, INSIDE of my orchidarium! This little bugger was fast! I tried to dab at him with a q-tip that was already in my hand...and it ran off! I read that spider mites are so small that they are usually not seen when they are moving around on leaves. So what could possibly be red or orange red, visible to the eye but still tiny like a pin drop, and looks like a small tiny spider or crab and runs really really fast! The funny thing is is I noticed this same bug outside on one of my flower pots, which is a completely different environment from my orchidarium! I wish I could get pictures but there is no way my camera would pull such a picture off with such a little creature! I saddly took some of my orchids outside to be watered over the weekend and left them outside for a few hours after watering...I have a feeling that may be how this creature got in...but I could be wrong.

[bonsai1504]

i have little gnats in my orchidarium. did they fly or did they just crawl?

[Becca]

I think just crawled...but it was so fast when it realized I was after it that I cant' be sure what direction it went in...lol. Don't gnats look like itty bitty flies kind of?

[Swamper]

hmmmm I can't wait to hear what that might be. I always find these chases to be funny for some reason.

[caseydoll]

Becca, I don't think that would be a spider mite. I used to have them attack my Croton (houseplant) all the time. You couldn't see them at all because they were soooo tiny. I know there are little red spiders around outside though. I don't know if you would have the same ones I do but around here I see them a lot. They are super quick, tiny, and they bite! I've don't think they do anything to plants though and I don't know what they are called. It sounds like what you have but I'm not sure.

[dave b]

Spider mites are too small for you to see like that. Almost sounds like a Predatory Running Mite. They are easily visible, and run around very fast. Look like very small red spiders. Common to find them outside during summer. Google them and see what you think. If it is, they are good. They feed on spider mites, thus their predatory name.

[Becca]

Dave that is it I think! I won't kill it then if it eats the mites...my only problem know is that I know I have bugs that I have just seen in the last day or so....little black dots that don't move extremely fast and are much smaller the the Predatory Mite....I want to spray with an insecticide...but I hate it when it kills the good bugs too!

[Becca]

Originally Posted by Swamper

hmmmm I can't wait to hear what that might be. I always find these chases to be funny for some reason.

It was kind of funny....it darted away from me so fast I had to laugh ..... then I had to get back to work since I was home on my lunch break....I knew if I tried to hunt him down it would take another half hour before I would have to give up....lol.

[unhappykat]

Originally Posted by Becca

It was kind of funny....it darted away from me so fast I had to laugh ..... then I had to get back to work since I was home on my lunch break....I knew if I tried to hunt him down it would take another half hour before I would have to give up....lol.

I hate little bugs!!! Theyre always getting away.

[Ang]

Could they be sugar ants? I just found some in my nodsa "Lady of the Night" and I can't seem to get rid of them. They are tiny, red and run really fast. They don't seem to be damaging the plant, yet