One of my bell peppers has been looking pretty sad lately (shriveled leaves with brown edges and holes). I checked it often for bugs but never saw anything. I finally gave up on it and pulled it up, and in the dirt were tons of tiny red worm-like bugs. I haven't been able to find anything online that looks like these did.

Details:

• Reddish orange
• Very small - picture a mechanical pencil with a point just long enough to write with and the thinnest lead
• Smooth, no hairs or legs (at least to the naked eye)
• None were on the plant itself or the surface of the soil. All in the dirt about 1-2" down
• The pepper shared a pot with some herbs. I checked the soil under the herbs and didn't see anything (still repotted in new soil). I don't know if they just preferred the bell pepper or if they hadn't had enough time to spread further out.

Anyone know what these are?

Gardening has helped me a lot in getting over my fear of bugs, but there were so many of these I totally panicked and threw everything away without thinking to take a picture. I'd like to figure out what these were so I can treat the plant/soil next time instead of just freaking out.