Even then, it seems pretty unlikely. Mites in a sealed plastic bag of Aspen, far away from the reptile hosts that they rely on to live. I have seen small white bugs (aphids) in multiple types of substrate including reptibark, aspen and cypress mulch. The cypress mulch was purchased at Home Depot by the way. I am not saying they weren't mites, they very well could have beeen. I am just curious if they were white bugs or black or red bugs.