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I do understand where BlueCrowned is coming from - most accounts of mites I read say they are visible long before it gets to this stage, and as he interacts and handles his snakes frequently, and did not spot these mites until after the snake was dead he's looking for an alternative explanation.
Again, with no experience whatsoever with this, but trying to think outside the box, could it be that the mites were living in the substrate but not on the snake, and yet still feeding on it? If that were possible, it could be that the OP would not have seen them during normal daily routine, but that the snake was still being bitten.
I did find a few discussion of wood mites, but they are described as white, and these are distinctly black.
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