Just the way it sounds, it seems like mites. When they are little like that, they are kind of clear in color. They dont take on the blackish blood color until they feed. And as small ones, they are pretty darn tiny and pretty hard to see until you get a TON of them. The adults who have fed are much easier to see which is why people say, 'if you see 1 mite, you can pretty much guaranteed there are lots more' as like i said, the young are clear or white and really hard to see.
If it was something like wood mites, they wouldnt be all congregating around the snakes eyes and sockets as they wouldnt be feeding on the snake.
Did you go to reptile show or reptile shop in the past month or so? Maybe picked up a hitchhiker?
I personally would treat the cage with PAM and be sure to spray PAM on a rag and wipe down the outside of your other cages as well as the cages on the rat snake. Basically create a 'death barrier' around the rat snakes cage and the other snakes cages so if it is snake mites, they would have to cross 2 barriers of death to get a meal. Also be sure to treat for 2-3 months as snake mite eggs can hang around for a month or so.
Best of luck.
And i dont think the mites came from substrate. Aspen is not the ideal breeding grounds for them. They want a warm, moist, dark place with easy access to a meal thus why a nice upper corner in a snake cage is the best spot. I've used aspen for years and never gotten mites from that. I did get them once from what i believe was a hitchhiker from a reptile shop as i dont go to shows.
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