Out of character behaviour

[Colin D Wilson]

Doubt it really, in general (and there are exceptions to the rule) "white mites" are like a little clean up brigade ... they're found in all tyes of substrate even if you microwave it before using it for your spiders they'll appear.
Again... in general, The mites that are the beasties are a brown colour and they are more of a problem and they have a parasitic nature.

[Richard Pike]

Thanks again for the info Colin. It's good to know about the mites.

I think James was correct - probably dehydration. Just bad timing (and lack of knowledge on my behalf).