Absolutely drop dead gorgeous snake, big congrats !!!

Ticks and mites ? That is not cool. What you describe certainly does sound like a non-engorged tick.
That should not be something thats to be "expected" unless you were to pick through some imports.

I would bring it up to the seller. You don't have to be ugly about it, but if I was the seller / breeder I would hope that my customers would bring something like that to my attention, so the issue could be looked into and corrected.

Again, beautiful snake