Hi mate
Hopefully it was just a random creature that crawled in. I use stockings as a filter over my intake ducting to try and cut back on that. You can buy air filters and/or insect mesh for big set ups, but I find stockings are fine for 6 inch duct. I also deploy sticky traps to help me in this regard, hung at different levels in my gardens. The blue ones attract thrips/leafminers the yellow ones attract aphids and the white ones attract fungus gnats. This will enable you to identify any actual beasts themselves, the numbers in play and also take some of the little buggers out of the game.
Sticky traps are pretty cheap to buy, last a long time and can withstand heat and water, but if you are a DiY/creative type with lots of time on your hands (like me!), you can make your own sticky traps using small wooden boards painted the corresponding colour (white/yellow/blue) with vaseline smeared on it.
You can also use the corresponding positive predators once you know what you are dealing with. Predators like soil dwelling phoretic mites (Mighty Mite) will kill thrips/ fungus gnats, or the phyto or amblyseiulus predators will kill spider mites. I use amblyseiulus in slow release pouches in all my grows as they don't harm plants, release over 6 weeks and die / disappear if there are no mites to eat, they aren't as hardcore as the phyto, but phyto die too quickly if no mites are present and aren't available early in the year although they can take higher temps. Even though our gardens are the same temp all year round, outdoor gardeners/greenhouses obviously aren't..
As for the stretch, mine normally stretch up until about day 21, but depends on the strain. Some hardly stretch, but others go mental. It's most noticably over night, but I imagine an element of that is due to not seeing them for 12 + hours. I try to keep the night temps up (easier in summer than winter) and keep as small a variation as possible between day and night temp. Eg 25 deg day 20 deg night. I normally run at 27-29 deg C days in the summer as I fire my Sodiums over the daytime hours. If I'm using Co2 on a grow I stop using it during the stretch period as I've seen them super stretch with it. Although Co2 is daytime only, it powers up their growth and everything does more when it's being used.
Girls are looking good though mate. Enjoy the bloom; for me, it's the best part watching them transform from weeds into beautiful flowers.