Mites!

Question
My first ball python i bought from a small pet store. After having her just 2
weeks, before i even knew something was wrong, i woke up one morning to
find her in a frozen movement with little black bugs all over her!  I had taken
her out everyday, and seen no bugs before! I was heartbroken. She was
dead.A few weeks later i bought another ball python. this time. I looked him
over and i didnt see any mites on him and i bought a completely new cage. A
week later little black bugs started to appear and his appetite started to
lessen. I took him to the vet. got a medicated soak. I cleaned out the
enclosure so well you could of ate out of it! I checked him everyday! he was so
good. he still is great about letting me move his face every which way i need
to to check his neck and in his pits, then carefully removing any mites i saw
with tweezers! well it seemed that he was mite free after weeks of daily
newspaper changing and medicated soaks and less and less mite removals till
there were none for an extended time period. he also started to eat again. well
about 3 weeks later the mites showed up again on him! so i did the whole
process again. My ball python has now been mite free for many months. so 1
month ago i brought home 2 columbian red tails. on the opposite side of the
room their habitat stands. they were handled daily and no mites were ever
seen on them until this week! HOW is this happening! where are they coming
from! i have always cleaned my snakes cages constantly: 2-3 times a week.  
dont understand how everytime i have every bought a snake they get mites!
please help me get rid of them! Not only will it always bother me that i wasnt
able to prevent my first ball pythons death, but i don;t know what else to do. i
constantly clean everything and i bath them. Right now the boas are eating
despite the current mites i am treating/getting rid of. The ball python has still
been mite free since that last time thankgoodness!

Answer
Aren't these little things a pain in the ARSE!!!  I've got a similar problem with my burmese pythons-clear up one and the mites move to another...

Anyway, mites are everywhere.  They hop around looking for something to land on which they can eat.  You and your family probably track them in from outside and then they find their way to the snakes.  The other vectors include cage furniture (did you use any sticks from outside), and food (they might hitch a ride on the mouse).  

Continue treating the infections as you have.  You can also use olive oil to kill them (just rub the snake down let sit 10-15 minutes then rinse w/ warm soapy water).  I might recommend head lice bedding spray for the OUTSIDE of the cage and areas surrounding it.

BTW it is HIGHLY unlikely that mights killed your 1st Ball python-2 weeks is simply not enough time for that to happen.