It is said that big things come in small packages. Such is the case when it comes to the red velvet mite, a tiny arachnid (eight-legged arthropod) commonly found in plant litter, gardens, lawns and forested areas throughout the Upper Delaware River region.

Also referred to as “rain bugs” for their practice of emerging from leaf litter or other organic matter after a rain, red velvet mites are beneficial predators, feeding on insects, insect eggs and even other arachnids throughout various stages of their life cycle. 

As larvae, they attach to other insects and arachnids to sustain themselves on their host’s bodily fluids. Adults dine on other small insects and their eggs.

In our gardens and yards, they are efficient predators who help with the heavy lift of reducing bad bug populations, while posing no threat to humans or our pets.

Unlike chiggers (the parasitic larval stage of harvest mites whose bites cause extremely itchy welts) or ticks (which can transmit organisms causing Lyme, anaplasmosis and other tick-borne diseases), red velvet mites do not bite humans or our pets, nor do they feed on our blood. 

While I have not witnessed it, red velvet mites apparently “perform interesting mating dances, moving in circles, tapping each other with their forelegs, and depositing threads to communicate with each other,” according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

The fascinating little mites are most active in spring and fall and are important components of a healthy soil ecosystem. 

When we apply pesticides affecting arthropods, red velvet mites are some of the nontarget, beneficial creatures that become unintended victims. Let’s take a moment to consider that the next time we are tempted to send a chemical weapon in their direction.