Damnit I had an awesome link somewhere now I can't find it!

Get some predatory mites maybe?

I got a mite problem a while ago. I just used PAM (Provent-a-mite) just make sure all your inverts are relocated to the OPPOSITE side of the house. I sprayed PAM like crazy in the enclosures and my tarantulas all survived it because I put them in the bathroom. I also sprayed with the windows open for better ventilation in the rooms. Snake mites are species specific, so they shouldn't "spread" to your inverts at all.

Cresties also shouldn't get them, they really are snake specific. I believe beardies and monitors can get them too but not cresties or leos or the sorts.

Shall be looking into predatory mites. Sounds interesting.

Leah-- So it should be ok if all I do is change bedding and move them to the other side of the house for awhile? My big worry is them getting into the inverts' tubs and hunkering down. Kind of like how you can get mites from a bag of bedding or an old log because they'll just hunker down and wait. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid... Who knows.

Anyway, I'm about to get some PAM on order and, now that I'm back from buying a crapton of tubs (and locking myself out of the house in the process--bah humbug), mass soaking shall occur. IIRC, I can use vegetable oil on the snakies to kill mites, right? It'll be a few days til the PAM can get here..

Also glad to hear about the crestie. He's not mine, but he's in the same room as my lizards while roomie is out of town. I'm still uber paranoid, though, and plan to treat his cage. (I suppose now is a good time to ask, before I forget: Is PAM dangerous to cresties at all? I can try to make a spray out of diatomaceous earth and water and use that for him instead if it is...)

I think for any inverts and the crestie and anything else without scales...you could just change them out and move them to another room. Snake mites are species specific so they won't spread. I personally wouldn't use the PAM with th crestie only because it doesn't mention anything about it being safe for them, it's really made for snake enclosures. All I did was move all inverts, geckos, and my tortoise out the the snake room/s. While waiting for the PAM I kept everyone on newspaper and soaked them every day in a water/mouthwash solution. You could use Dawn dish soap too. I had a huge infestation after getting 3 new snakes in, even with quaratine they spread like wildfire and my tarantulas, geckos, and tortoise were never affected.

Thanks so much for the input. I'll move the crestie with the inverts, then, and keep them all far away from the PAM. Can't do the same with the tortoise (he just moved into a 6x3 ft enclosure which is, frankly, impossible to move, and the snakes are on top), so I'll still do his cage just for the sake of catching any fleeing mites before they hit the floor. But it's a relief that at least 2 of the herps are safe from being munched on. :P

Water/mouthwash? Got it.

Mites SUCK. But snake mites are not going to affect any inverts. A long time ago I dealt with mites... holy shit..... it was horrible. They are pretty much specific to snakes but they can (and did, in my case) infest a bearded dragon. I don't think they will do the same to your geckos though. They kind of like to have scales to hide under which I think is why a beardie made an okay host for them. I got PAM and they were wiped out pretty quickly.

PAM is officially on order.

I have a massive bag of aspen sitting in my room. Should I be worried about the mites hunkering down in there? Or in other words, should I chuck it to be safe?

Are there mites on the inverts? From what I understand mites are species specific (or rather, family/genus specific)

Mouse mites for example are pretty much microscopic and a different type of mite than what snakes can get-- and I am currently dealing with mouse mites at work but I can't get them (still wear double gloves and a protective gown!) and neither can the snakes, which is good because I fed them before we found out the mice had mites.

I would definitely treat the aspen or chuck it. I went overboard and treated just about everything including carpet in my snake room when I got mites.
As opposed to the water/mouthwash, I would suggest very diluted iodine bathes to sooth mite bites-- mouthwash isn't going to feel very good.

Eeew. I got nothing but happy thoughts for you. Oh, and this.

Lauren-- I haven't gotten to the T's tub yet, so I don't know whether any of the mites have made it into her bedding, but I haven't seen anything suspect in her or the roaches' tubs. I know they won't feed on the inverts, but I'd hate to treat everything and move the inverts back just for a couple stray mites to have been hiding out with the inverts and start the whole nightmare over again.

I went ahead and used a drop or two of dawn dish soap in each soak this time around. I have betadine (Povidone iodine, I think?) on hand, would that be good to use over the next few days? I didn't even think of that with the mouthwash. Ouch!

Thanks for the thoughts, Sarah. And for the deep-fried erected penis. Lol

Betadine is what I use-- dilute it to be a very weak colored tea almost. 
Can the inverts be moved to a new clean cage with clean substrate and a different part of the house for the duration? 
I googled this: (hope the link works, otherwise search for tarantulas and ivermectin, second result) http://books.google.com/books?id=NaAMh8sEU4oC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=tarantulas+and+ivermectin&source=bl&ots=VGQgDqNc8U&sig=uo7_f-ab6vF1Yms5eQ1jbQu-eWM&hl=en#v=onepage&q=tarantulas%20and%20ivermectin&f=false 
You can get ivermectin at feed stores or from a vet.  

Awesome, I'll start doing betadine soaks tomorrow, then.

I was able to move the inverts and crestie to the bathroom (literally the farthest spot in the house from the reptiles). I dumped the tarantula's substrate and replaced it with a couple plain paper towels for right now (have fresh new coir coming with the PAM). I didn't see anything suspicious in the tub or on the T, so I think the inverts are in the clear. Thanks for the link! If any mites show up in the invert tubs, I'll definitely look more into the ivermectin option.

Yep, snake mites won't spread to the inverts & invert mites won't spread to the reptiles. I also wouldn't use the ivermectin unless you are positive about the tarantula having mites as it'll just stress it out. Just keep the bolus cleaned up & maybe take it's water source out for about a week or so to cut down on humidity if you are worried. Around the eyes & chelicerae are the best places to look for mites.

Tarantula mites are a bigger worry if you keep high humidity species, but there are ways around it.

Thanks for the info, Niki!

So, it sounds like the inverts will be fine just kept in a different room til the mites are gone. That is a big relief, lol! One less step to nuking the mites...

Uuuugh. I'm finally almost done getting everything cleaned and put back, 10 hours later. Talk about an all day project... Bastard mites. :P

Snake mites are specific to snakes but they can and will infest any type of lizard cage and just hang on until a tasty snake happens along. I change every single cage to newspaper until they are eradicated. I soak everything and add ONE DROP of dish soap to the water. (this breaks the surface tension and makes it so the mites actually drown.) Then I treat all of the snakes and lizards cages with POM (not geckos however) and every thing else gets scrubbed and sanitized with bleach. Do this every two weeks for a period of 6-8 weeks depending on how bad the infestation is. Once you go two weeks after the last treatment and see no new mites, you can safely go back to your usual substrate. As to the open bag of aspen, I'd spray it for GP.

Thanks for the info, Shellboa. I wasn't aware of the need to do repeat treatment for over a month, so I'm glad you mentioned that!

What I ended up doing was making a spray out of diatomaceous earth and water... Sprayed down cages and paper towel with it before putting the snakes and lizards back in. (Also did the crestie cage with the DE water, for good measure.) Hoping that'll help kill off some of the mites while I wait for PAM to arrive.