Quote Originally Posted by Samara View Post
Our first Python Samara got these black Mites after getting a hide cave made of real wood from a pet store. Believe it or not use Olive Oil on your python. It is safe to use and cheap. Use it once a day and rub it all over your ball python. Clean your cage and replace everything inside and wash your cage with water and bleach. Within a few days these black mites will be gone... Best of Luck!!!!

Steven
Sorry, Olive Oil is complete baloney. It may suffocate some of the mites that are ON the snake, but not all of them and it will do nothing for the mites that are in the cage. The only way to get rid of snake mites is to use a poison that is specific for killing mites. People who claim that olive oil works were probably never infested with snake mites in the first place. There are hundreds of different species of mites, some of which may have come in as eggs with the substrate or cage furniture and may have died off on their own anyway with nothing to feed on.