Hi all, I don't post here much, but I have a female ball that I've had almost a year now. The guy at the reptile shop where I got her didn't know much about her, but I bought her anyways because I wanted one so badly and there were no others available anywhere in town (it was right after Christmas). I know that was a mistake. The second mistake was waiting until last month to take her for a full exam and bloodwork. I admit both of these up front.

Duchess has parasites and an elevated white blood count. I'm taking her for her parasite shot on Wednesday and they're going to set me up on a 21-day-long antibiotic treatment. Since she does not eat reliably it's going to be injections. Luckily, I am a diabetic and an old hand at giving myself injections so I should be able to handle it. However I have no one to help me if she gets snarky so I would appreciate tips on how best to safely restrain her (a pillowcase?) when I give her the shots. She's a bit over three feet long, and though she's a nice enough snake, I don't handle her on a regular basis so I imagine she won't be as docile as one used to being handled more.

She was also diagnosed with a third ailment that I can't really repeat because the vet didn't give it a name (probably because she knew it wouldn't mean anything to me!). She said it was basically uncurable but "hopefully" Duchess would fight it off in time.

I would like to use this thread for Q&A as I think of them during Duchess' treatment. If anyone wants to tell me what a horrible snakemom I am here too I wouldn't argue. But I would still appreciate help, for Duchess' sake. Let's start with how best to administer the injections? Any tips?