I am currently housing a WC specimen in a completely different room altogether. For preventive measures, this is what I am doing and have always done for incoming animals from unknown sources. Mind you, for bigger purchases I personally would not even entertain the thought of purchasing animals from dubious sellers - just not worth the risk IMO.
I use 1 bottle of NIX headlice shampoo solution
http://www.nixlice.com/products/nix-creme-rinse and mix it thoroughly with 4L of distilled water. In the mean time, remove the animal and the water dish. Using an unused spray bottle, spray the enclosure inside and out and wait til it dries completely before putting the animal back in. You should leave out the water dish for 24 hours just in case. Do this once a week for 3-4 weeks (depending on its infestation level) and you should be completely free of mites by the end. If you can, switch out the substrate with paper towels so you can better remove dead mites.
This solution is mild enough to not be detrimental for animals (unless sprayed directly on to be saturated on a juvenile animal, safe for human infants as young as 2 months old) and contains the same ingredient (Permethrin) that today's most popular reptile mite-solution offers (Provent-a-Mite). Just remember that even when you don't see visible mites anymore, they can indeed comeback if you catch them in the early stage of their lifecycle (13-20 days); you may very well still have mite eggs waiting to hatch and re-infest. This solution kills both the mites and their eggs. When used
properly, this solution has been tried-and-true for many.
I treat all incoming reptiles for mites whether I see them or not. I also quarantine for 3 months before they make it into my reptile room. I lost alot of my herps a few years back thanks to a certain vendor at NARBC from me not properly quarantining. Not to mention I just expect all new herps to be tick and mite infested.
I also follow these procedures.
Thankfully, I have never encountered snake mites in my personal collection to date. Unless the animal is coming from a source that I personally know and trust - those who follow even more strict quarantine regiments than I and really understands what it means to only sell quality animals, I think it's important to inspect the animal thoroughly in person, or if not possible (such as online purchases), do ask detailed questions about these things. I once had a guy who replied "mites? well not as far as I can tell" - this is not a good enough answer. I have also been let down by the so-called "big breeders" selling me less than perfect, problematic animals. These things may seem overboard but as the collection grows and more of your hard-earned money goes into it, it's definitely something worth the effort.
