Fowersnhens, I was having the exact same problem with bugs in my chicken coop. I could open the door pop my head in, grab the eggs and be back out in seconds. By the time I got to the house I could feel myself just crawling with little bugs. So we cleaned out the coop, pressure washed the whole inside, dusted with mite powder, put in new shavings, checked all the birds(nothing on them). So I thought that should do it. Wrong. next day, still crawling. I caught a couple on my eyebrow, they were teeny little round greyish bugs. Could barely see them without a magnifying glass. It took me 2 days of being creeped out to finally find the little buggers. They were all over the outside of the coop door and the overhang above the door. Caked on the handle, latch, door frame EVERYWHERE but in the coop. No wonder I was covered in them. It was like walking thru a shower! ((**shiver**)) yick! I don't like to use chemicals if I can get by without it, but I found a can of KONK in with my garden stuff (pyrithin based) it's for plant and veggies but it works by direct contact with the bugs. I sprayed the whole inside and out side of the door, door frame and the roof overhang and now they are all dead. YAY. I've been looking for any moving things for 4 days now, still no signs of any more. So check the door area. There's nothing worse than feeling crawly! Good luck.

Terpguy says that for spider mites, "Try looking for something with either pyrethrins or permethrins in them." One option I used for several years is 1600 X-clude, which is timed-release pyrethrins. The current product is 1600 X-clude Formula 2. The manufacturer's site states it controls spider mites, as well as "Ants, Aphids, Beetles (Aster Beetles, Blister Beetles, Cigarette Beetles, Colorado Potato Beetles, Cucumber Beetles, Drugstore Beetles, Flea Beetles, Japanese Beetles, Rose Chafers, Trogoderma, Watermelon Beetles, Weevils), Caterpillars (Cabbage Worms, Rose Slugs, Hornworms), Centipedes, Cockroaches, Crickets, Flies, Fungus Gnats, Gnats, House Flies, Leafhoppers, Mealy Bugs, Moths, Rose Aphids, Scale, [Spider Mites,] Spiders, Stable Flies, Stink Bugs, Tarnished Plant Bugs, and Whiteflies." Even if you hold the spray can upside down, it sprays full blast. Nice. X-clude is "labeled for use in hobby greenhouses, homes, interiorscapes and landscapes on potted and flowering plants [including orchids], foliage, bedding plants, cut flowers, and ornamentals." However, a commercial orchid grower who uses it says to take plants out of the house. Spray them twice, one week apart. We've got dogs and cats, and the orchids go outside to get sprayed. The grower says to spray outside in the shade when there's no wind and to walk around the plants as you spray. I've taken plants to the patio on cookie trays and sprayed all of them at once. When I've sprayed in the fall, there have been no spider mites over the winter. When I stopped, there were spider mites. Perhaps cause and effect - my humidity's low in the winter, and I tend to underwater. WC8 Here is a link that might be useful: 1600 X-clude Formula 2

Whatever may have caused your last batch to be "lousy" was unlikely to have been bugs, big or small. Maybe too much water; maybe not enough....maybe too much of one component; maybe not enough.... Unless you're planning to be in a compost-making contest, I really wouldn't worry about your CP. Eventually, you'll have compost! And, unless the experts here correct me, even the "lousy" compost can be used in the garden, to the garden's great benefit. I used to question so much - how many browns did I need, did I need more greens, if so, what kind, were animals getting into the pile and etc etc etc. Now....there are several big piles sitting out there. One never got turned much, and it had FAR too many grass clippings in it. In fact, you could have called it my grass pile. Now? It's beautifully aged compost. Next to it is a smaller, nicely evolving pile that I tended to more conscientiously. It looks...well, suspiciously like the first pile! And next to that is my newest experiment -- I fill paper grocery bags with combos of shredded papers & other "browns" (like floor sweepings etc) and "greens," like the contents of our kitchen compost bucket. When filled, a bag is piled on top of or next to the bags already there in the pile. I stab holes in it and leave it alone....I'm expecting perfectly good compost in time. I don't worry about animals using my piles because it's impossible to do much about it. The fenced-in part of this property is visited by: birds, large and small (including vultures); rabbits; a groundhog; mice; squirrels; feral cats; and, at least once, a coyote. (Hmmm....one of these days, I really must repair the holes in the fence!) No way am I going to sift through my piles and remove any little offerings that may have been left. And I certainly never worry about insects. Do anything about bugs? An absolute impossibility. Besides, insects are an integral part of the great act of decomposition. Or they're not....regardless, I get compost piles...eventually. :)

I like my Can-O-Worms very much. I keep it indoor. Use coconut coir for the bedding. Feed veggie kitchen scraps. No meat or cooked food. It is a low maintenance bin. The worms do migrate up to the next level for food. They don't all go up. They do have preferences where they're the most comfortable. The trays have different functions. Some come with two trays and some with three. You start with one tray, feed until the tray looks like it has more compost then bedding, then you start the next tray on top. You then only feed the top tray and the older tray finish up. The worms will then move up to the new tray for food and then you can harvest the old tray and start a new feeding tray on top. If you have three trays then you can compost more food with more worms and get more compost. I have the two tray system. It's easy to harvest. I bring the trays outside in bright light. Put the finished tray on top of the working tray. Fluff up the compost. The worms remaining in this tray will move down to join the rest of their family in the working tray. Scoop out layers of worm-free compost until done. The compost is light, fluffy like chocolate cake crumbs. There are cocoons in this compost. I pick out the cocoons I see and throw them back in the working tray. I start a new working tray with coir, sand, and pulverized egg shells. I feed only in this new tray and let the worms finish eating through the old tray and migrate up. I harvest when the old tray looks like chocolate cake crumbs, sometimes every six weeks if I've been feeding regularly. Sometimes I go six months between harvests. I like the drain spigot. I do leave it open all the time with a container underneath to catch drips. There is always extra liquid when i feed watermelon rinds. I don' t add extra water or bedding. I dig a hole in the coir, dump in scraps and cover. No fruit flies. No mites. Occasional potworms. The legs are spindly and can tip the bin over if you klutzy and bump it too hard. The aeration screens at the leg housing can let liquid through. I cover the five leg aeraration screens with plastic because I didn't like the puddles of dark worm leachate on my laundry room floor. The trays can get heavy to carry around for harvesting. Wheels on the COW would be a big improvement. I prefer the COW over the Rubbermaid bins. I started with those based on "Worms Eat My Garbage". They were relatively cheap and easy to make. Those were a pain to manage. Sticky gooey like compost. Smelly bottom leachate bin. A lot more work to harvest. If you want a lazy no maintenance vermicomposting system dig a pit outdoors and throw in your scraps. Vermicompost on, however you want to. There is no wrong way, just find the method that works for you. Vermicomposter for over 10 years, Wormsical.