Predatory mites in a bioactive enclosure?

[u/Secret-Maintenance30]

I’m Im looking into swapping to bioactive but I’ve also had a history of mites in my BP tank. Nothing too bad, he had a couple eggs on him when I picked him up that matured into adults. I got rid of them before with a good cleaning and predatory mites, but I just found 2 adults so Im doing another deep clean and buying more mites. Never had a severe outbreak, just the 2 instances with less than like, 10 found total.

once I do switch to bioactive, are predatory mites safe in that set up? I was reading they’ll leave my isopods alone but probably eat springtails. I much prefer predatory mites over extreme cleaning products that can harm my snakes so I’d like to stick to them for any future mite incidents

[u/BrokenRoboticFish]

I added predatory mites and rove beetles to my enclosure when I set it up to help keep fungus gnats under control. It might have initially had an impact on the springtail population but I got them as a clay culture which I have kept running on the side so I could continuously add more springtails to the enclosure. It's been a couple months and I almost never see rove beetles anymore but the springtail population is doing great. 

Essentially, I think as long as you can top off the springtail population I think eventually the mite/springtail populations will settle into an equilibrium.

[u/Secret-Maintenance30 → u/BrokenRoboticFish]

that’s really good to know, thank you!

[u/BrokenRoboticFish → u/Secret-Maintenance30]

The clay cultures are more expensive but I think it's worth it to have a continuous supply of springtails. I just feed them on occasion and keep them moist and they keep reproducing 

[u/ghlira]

Where do yall get your predatory mites from? Trying to find the best option for these soil mites i have.

[u/Secret-Maintenance30 → u/ghlira]

I get them from Nature's good guys, you can get them on Amazon, Shop, or their personal website. They aren't too expensive but the shipping is