Could my snakes get mites at a snake show... ?

Dear VPI,

Once again I come in search of answers.  I am feeling pretty low right now because I sold a blood python and the person who bought it says it has mites.  My blood python was treated for mites in April and I have not seen one since.  I sold her at an expo last weekend.   I am paying for the treatment necessary to de-mite the snake because I can't prove they came from elsewhere. I think it’s only fair to take responsibility. I even offered to buy the snake back but the person is otherwise happy with her. 

My question is--could these mites live in around her eyes and heat pits for a couple of months without leaving and being noticeable?   She was housed in the same room as two other snakes and they have nothing on them.  I haven't seen a single mite for four months. 

I am hoping they came from the Expo because I feel really awful.  I have heard people mention they can lay dormant but I also have heard that this is not proven.  I can see them easily just marching across the floor at the expo and hopping on to her.   

Can Camin's monumental research on snake mites be found on the Internet?  I would like to read it.  It would put me at ease to think that I did not harbor these critters and contribute to infecting this person's home as well. Thank you for any help you can offer.Yvonne

Dear Yvonne,

Mites absolutely positively could have come from other snakes at a weekend expo. If you were letting other people handle your snakes, they could have carried the mites from another snake that they had handled previously. Expos are notorious places for mites to be exchanged. 

It’s also possible that your last mite treatment got all but one female or a small group of eggs that were deposited back in the skin around the eye or under the anal scale. Then it takes several generations for the numbers to build up to where you notice them again.  

So far as I know, Camin’s research is not published on the Internet. His papers are hard to come by. I have copies of copies that some zookeeper made decades ago, and I’m not volunteering to make copies because it’s probably a hundred pages. You might find copies for sale occasionally at Zoo Book Sales (www.zoobooksales.com).    DGB