The chemicals that will kill a mite will also kill the reptiles. The heat that it takes to kill a mite will also kill your reptile. Mites can be drowned, but if you are not careful, enough mites can just scurry up the reptile and emerge from the water, hanging out around the eyes and nose (and heat pits and eye grooves of pythons and boas) until things settle down.

Speaking of eyes and heat pits, mites can live their entire lives inside the tiny pits and grooves around a snake's eyes or in their heat pits, feeding and breeding and making more little mites to send off into the world. Other favorite places include the chin grooves of all snakes, in between the dorsal crests of lizards, and in the folds of soft skin around their armpits, necks and ears. While snakes can be fully submerged in water, and some lizards will voluntarily do so, lizards may have to have water poured heavily sprayed over their heads and necks to flush away the mites.

Another reason it is so hard to kill them is that they spend a lot of their non-feeding and reproduction time in tiny moist crevices, both on the reptile and in its enclosure. At any one time, you will have mites in several different life stages in your reptile's enclosure and on its body. The stages, and the time it takes to morph to the next stage at certain temperatures, are:

The protonymph will morph into a deuteronymph in the time indicated only if it finds a blood meal soon after it molts. If it does not, it can survive without a meal for 15 to 19 days before dying of starvation.

Since reptile enclosure temperatures fluctuate from their daytime gradients to their nighttime gradients, the time between morphing may be prolonged.

Snake mites are rather simple creatures. They basically travel in a line. If they hit an obstacle, like a wall, branch, water bowl, or body, they climb it rather than finding a way around it. If they are cold, they sense heat and make their way towards it. When they get too hot, they go off toward a cooler area. Moist, dark areas are preferred. If they find a hole leading out of the enclosure, they just keep walking, either walking off the edge of the table and falling to the floor, or walking up or down anything that comes into contact with the enclosure or the surface it is resting on: curtains, electrical cords, etc. With any luck (for you and your reptiles), it will starve to death before finding another host. If your cages are close together and there is lots of handling and opening and closing of doors and nice ventilation panels, the mites all too often find their way to another host, enabling them to do what they are genetically programmed to do: make more mites.

A gravid female mite leaves her host, making her way to some dark, warm, moist crevice, pit, or other imperfection somewhere in or out of the reptile's enclosure. There she lays her eggs. The soft-bodied hatchlings remain where they hatch until they are old enough to molt to the protonymph stage. So long as the crevice or wherever they are remains moist, they will not die of dehydration.

After molting to protonymph, the mite remains in its natal crevice until its exoskeleton firms up. Once it is hard and dry, the mite will no longer be in danger of dying of dehydration when it moves into drier areas. It begins to wander. If it encounters a host before it starves to death, it will lodge itself under or between scales where the skin is most accessible, and begin to feed. The mite can smell a host and will make its way towards one. The mite basically keep walking, heading towards the host-smell, warmth, and dark, stopping only when a special area on its back comes into contact with something - like the host's body.

When the protonymph has had its fill, it drops off and wanders, in its straight-line way, towards someplace dark, moist crevice. There is molts to the deuteronymph stage. The non-feeding deuteronymphs can be active but they usually remain in the crevice until ready to complete its last molt into a feeding, breeding adult.

During the latter part of the protonymph stage, or when in the deuteronymph stage, the mites pair off into sexual pairs. Soon after molting into adults, they will mate, after which they head off for a post-coital blood meal. Once they have had their fill, the gravid females head off to find a dark, moist crevice to lay their 60 to 80 eggs, while the males wander off to find more unmated females. After laying, females will continue to feed, her next 2 to 3 meals spread out about a week apart.

Effectively Killing Mites

Mites are a drag, plain and simple. They are microscopically small in most of their growth states and are not nearly as easy to deal with as a flea infestation. Generally speaking, the mite treatment products available at pet stores are ineffective. There is no easy way to get rid of mites. It requires a two-pronged attack: you must aggressively treat the environment as well as the reptile. You can treat the environment with toxic pesticides after removing the reptile to a safe area. While the environment is being fumigated, you can work on the reptile using less toxic means. If your reptiles are free roaming, treating the "environment" may be an overwhelming proposition but one that must be undertaken, and undertaken aggressively, nonetheless.

Attempts to treat the environment with herbal or homeopathic remedies will not work. Many people try to avoid the use of toxic chemicals in their lives (and I am one of them), but when it comes to ridding an environment of tenacious, hard-shelled pests who, in concentrations large enough, can kill your reptile, you must act quickly and aggressively.

Another problem with eradication attempts is that many people think that simply cleaning and disinfecting the enclosure/environment will eradicate the mites. It won't. It will get rid of the loose feces and may wash away many of the exposed mites. It will disinfect the bacteria left behind where the mites were squashed or defecated. It will likely not kill the non-feeding morphs, larvae, and laying females hidden away in deep crevices.

The following methods have proven successful in ridding an environment and reptile of mites. Note that, due to the fact that unhatched mite eggs and mites in non-feeding states will not be affected by most of the chemicals that will kill off the adults, you will have to repeat the treatment of the environment and reptile at least once, possibly twice, within a 2 to 6 week period.
 
Treating the Reptiles

Remove the reptile from its enclosure. Bathe it as described below, then place it in a holding tank outfitted with paper as substrate.

Treating Lizards

Place the lizard in a warm (80°-85º F / 26°-29º C), shoulder-deep bath of diluted Betadine® (povidone-iodine); add enough Betadine to water to make it the color of medium tea. Pour the bath water over the lizard, being careful around the eyes. The water will flush most of the mites off and drown them while the Betadine, a topical antiseptic, helps treat all the mites' bites. You may wish to bathe the lizard in a plain water bath first to allow it to drink first, adding the Betadine after it has done so. If the lizard defecates in the water, drain the tub, clean it, and draw a fresh Betadine bath.

If the lizard is small, or a species that does not regularly swim, keep the lizard in a dry, warm area until the tank has been treated. Larger lizards can be left to soak for a half hour or so.

While the enclosure is being fumigated, remove the soaking lizards from the tub or holding area. Saturate a clean soft cloth in diluted Betadine and run it around the joints between their legs and body, through the folds of skin around the neck, jowls, and dewlap. Use a cotton-tipped swab to apply the dilute Betadine around the eyes and nose. If the lizard has a spiked dorsal crest, check between all of the spikes to see if any mites remain lodged in there. If you find them, you can remove them with a moistened cotton-tipped swab.

Do not put oil into lizard eyes. Unlike snakes, they do not have a protective covering of skin over their eyes and putting oil in the eyes can cause severe irritation or inflammation.

Let the lizard soak again in a fresh, warm water, or rinse it off and keep it in a warm place until the tank is done. If the reptile is badly chewed up by the mites, more Betadine should be added to the water and these medicated baths should be repeated at least every couple of days while the bites heal. Non-soaking lizards should have undiluted Betadine applied by cotton-tipped swab to crusty areas after their wipe-down, then daily for several days.

Watch the lizard and check the tank carefully for the next month (average 2-6 weeks). If there is any reappearance of the mites or traces of mites (such as their ashy feces), repeat the above procedure. If you see no reappearance, you may wish to repeat the procedure in 6 weeks just to make sure that you have caught all the eggs, especially in a wooden tank.

Treating Snakes

Snakes should be soaked in a dilute Betadine bath as described above for lizards. If the snake persists in climbing out of the tub or is too small to put in a bathtub, place it in a plastic, lidded container into which air holes have been punched, filling it 3/4 full of the Betadine/water solution. You may wish to bathe the snake in a plain water bath first to allow it to drink first, adding the Betadine after it has done so. If the snake defecates in the water, drain the tub, clean it, and draw a fresh Betadine bath.

Whether or not the snake's head was under the water, dab the eyes and heat pits with mineral oil after removing it from the bath. Check the groove under the chin as well as under all the belly scutes and in the vent folds to make sure there are no mites, dead or alive, lodged in those areas. If you find mites in these areas, you can remove them by gently rubbing them from between the scales and folds with a cotton-tipped swab dipped in mineral oil.

Treating the Environment

Remove and dispose of all the substrate in the reptile's enclosure (bag it in a plastic garbage bag and get it out of the building). Vacuum the inside of the enclosure thoroughly, especially in the angles of the walls. If the tank is made of wood or ungrouted melamine, lightly scrape the inside angles with the edge of a blunt knife, then vacuum again. You are trying to get up all the loose eggs, mites and mite feces (the white dust in the bottom of the tank).

If you have a glass or Plexiglas® tank, wipe all surfaces down with hot soapy water. Wooden enclosures may be sprayed with soapy water. Remove all soap residue. For good measure, take the time to thoroughly disinfect glass tanks by swabbing them down with a 1:30 bleach-water solution (1/2 cup bleach per gallon of water), let the solution sit for ten minutes, then thoroughly rinse out the bleach residue. Disinfecting does not kill the mites; depending on how much disinfecting solution you apply, it may drown the mites you missed during the cleaning step. Disinfection is used to kill potentially harmful organisms that may be spread around by the mites.

If you have wooden cage furnishings such as branches, caves, or rocks, bake them in the oven, set at 200° to 250º F (93-121º C), for 2 to 3 hours (depending on thickness, and longer at the lower temperature); check on them during this time to make sure they do not start to scorch or burn. Rocks may be boiled, completely submerged, for 20 to 30 minutes. If the wood or rock furnishings are too big to place in the oven or in a pot, soak them in a bucket, cement mixing tray, or tub, in a 1:30 solution of bleach and water (use one half cup bleach for each gallon of water) for eight hours or so, to thoroughly saturate into crevices. Rinse thoroughly, spraying fresh water into all the crevices, until they are well saturated and flushed free of any bleach residue. Let dry thoroughly, preferably in the sun, for at least 24 hours.

Wash all bowls with the bleach-water solution, rinse well and let air dry.

If you have heating pads inside the tank, unplug and remove them. Clean with soapy water, rinse off the soap, then spray them down with the bleach-water. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes, then rinse clean and set aside. If you have the one of the self-adhesive reptile heating pads, check under them as best you can, or get rid of them entirely, replacing with a people-type heating pad or other free-standing heating pad or tape. Mites can crawl into the tiniest of spaces between the stuck-on pads and the glass, there to await their next metamorphosis. If it doubt, rip it off, and throw it out.

Disconnect all light fixtures and wipe them down with a damp cloth to remove any adventuresome mites and their feces.

Squeeze a "No-Pest" strip (such as the difficult to find Vapona® strip) or cat flea collar out of the inner envelope in which it was packed onto a piece of foil laid on the floor of the enclosure. Leave a bit still inside the packaging so that you can slide it back in when done. If the enclosure is a large one, you may need to set out several such strips or collars. If using a flea collar, stretch it out. You may need to cut them into pieces to prevent the from curling up again when you let go of the ends.

Close the tank and seal it up as air-tight as possible to keep the toxic pesticide fumes inside the tank where they are needed. Cover large, screened areas and ventilation panels or holes with waste paper or plastic, taping it in place. Tape over the seams and any gaps between the doors and tank. (Masking tape works well for all of this taping as it seals tightly but will come off easily and not leave a tacky residue.) Leave in place for three hours, longer for large enclosures.

Vacuum all around the enclosure - on the floor, wiping down any cabinets, etc. If there are any curtains on windows in the wall behind the tank, check them carefully for mites, too. Either vacuum or, if heavily infested, take them down and place immediately into large plastic garbage bags, seal the bags, and put in your car to take to the cleaners or laundromat. When done vacuuming, immediately dispose of the vacuum's bag in the garbage outside your house or building.

When the time is up, unseal the tank, disposing of all the paper and tape into a plastic bag for immediate disposal into the trash. Push the strip or collar back into its original packaging, place it in a ziplock-type bag, then store it in a safe place. Leave the tank open and air it out for several hours. If possible, open a window in the room and turn on a fan to help air out the fumes. A space fan may even be placed inside the tank or blowing into it to speed the air circulation in it. The fumes may be undetectable to you but not to your reptile, so you want them flushed out of the reptile's environment.

Put new substrate and any new furnishings into the enclosure. Simple substrates, such as paper towels, are best used for the next couple of weeks. This will enable you to easily see if additional mites have hatched or migrated into the tank from the surrounding area. Drapes and upholstered furnishings near heavily infested reptile tanks should be checked and, if necessary, removed for thorough cleaning. Replace the water bowl, hide box, into the tank. Reinstall and turn on the heating and lighting, warm the tank back up, and place the reptile back inside.

After the reptile has been treated, it can be returned to its enclosure.