Quote Originally Posted by Godzilla78 View Post
This is regarding ball pythons, but it may work for other species.
A very safe and effective method is soaking. It is the snakes first line of defense in the wild. I have ball pythons and the two times I had mites, I discovered it because the pythons were crammed in their water bowls. I then take them out of the tub, clean the tub spotless, soak and wash the snake off, (optional, but recommended: spray a piece of paper with NIX and let dry, if you do this step, make sure not to add the water bowl until the paper is totally dried out)

Then you put the snake back in the tub, and give them a water bowl large enough that they can submerge their entire body in it. THEY WILL submerge themselves as this is their natural instinct to drown the mites and relieve the pain. Every day, take out the water bowl, dump out the water with the dead black mites laying on the bottom of the water bowl. Wash the entire enclosure, put back the paper, put the snake back with a fresh water bowl.
Repeat every day for about 10 days, and the mites and their eggs will be completely drowned out. I know it is said the eggs can last 30 days, but in my experience, after 10 days of soaking, the entire colony is destroyed, eggs and all.

good luck!

p.s. The second time around, I also used Nix on the paper substrate as an extra measure, but you can skip this part if you are afraid of toxins and such.
The only problem is that many mites don't drown without a bit of soap in the water to break the surface tension...they just float & survive. I have a feeling that the
NIX you used this way is what actually did the mite-killing. (And please, don't anyone leave soap in a snake's drinking water hoping they'll drown their own mites,
as drinking soap water WILL have gastrointestinal consequences on the poor snake.)