The involvement of snake mites in transmission of infectious illnesses like inclusion body disease and ophidian paramyxovirus remains controversial.

After feeding, the mites have a soft body that is dark red or black in color and noticeable legs that can be seen by the human eye during the deutonymph stage.

The five life stages for the snake mite are egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph, and adult.

The ideal conditions in the environment for the mite to fully develop into a parasite are at temperatures between 75 and 85 °F (24 and 29 °C) and a relative humidity of 70%–90%.

The protonymphs tend to walk around the scale surfaces and head plates of the snake.

This is in contrast with solenophagy, where the skin is pierced and blood is sucked directly from the vessels, as occurs in mosquitos.

At the adult stage, the mites continue to feed on the snake host until the male mates with a female that is not engorged.

Use of the predatory mite Hypoaspis miles (now Stratiolaelaps scimitus) is advocated by some herpetologists as a nontoxic means of eradicating a population of O.

[4] In January, 2023 a study was published about the use of Afoxolaner (NexGard®) for treating mite infestations in pet snakes.