My current thing I’m looking forward to in life is raising some juvenile toads. In captivity they can live for over 10 years.
I plan to work on a vivarium habitat throughout April, and then in May I will be going down to visit my grandparents who live on a lake, so I will be able to find toads there. Where I currently live is too urban with too much pollution.
I may even be able to get a breeding pair (I plan to house 3-4 toads), and if they lay eggs in their soaking dish, I know how to raise the eggs and tadpoles, and then I can release them by the lake on another trip that is already planned around the time they would be ready for terrestrial life.
That would be so rewarding, the only other species I have ever raised from birth was softshell turtles from eggs that I rescued and then incubated. They had been dug up by kids on a beach while I was on vacation by the big lakes of Kentucky. I transported them back to northern Indiana and hatched them. I suppose I should have just re-buried them but I convinced myself enough I was “rescuing” them because I wanted the experience, admittedly.
Yes I could have been on the DNR’s most wanted list by age 10 lol. I got more than a few turtle hatchlings home from lakes by hiding them in my bathing suit when the DNR came around to question what I was doing on this private lake with buckets and nets. Things only kids can get away with. I am too old now to get away with such things and would have to order hatchlings online like everyone else (or be very very sneaky). 
Probably sneakier than I can actually be, I am way too clumsy to be a ninja.
Over my life I have raised garter snakes, painted turtles, map turtles, softshell turtles, musk turtles, snapping turtles, red-eared slider turtles, box turtles, etc but toads are still on my bucket list, as well as hissing cockroaches. I would release the turtles back into the wild, my grandparents’ lakefront as it was ideal for them, when they would get to about 4" in length. I also would enjoy tortoises and chameleons but I also have to be realistic about how I need less expensive, lower maintenance pets due to my lot in life.
Which is fine because the toad is my favorite animal and is completely doable, so I have no regrets or complaints.
I may be crazy but this is my one thing I’ve always been rather good at and passionate about. I have built some pretty awesome habitats before and seem to have a knack for this type of creature. I have also successfully created a flourishing Armadillidiida colony before that reproduced numerous times, so I can even breed some supplementation food and not have to buy it all in stores.
It’s been years since I pursued this hobby, I think the last time was over 5 years ago that I had a herp pet. I am rather excited and will likely obsess about it for the next two months while waiting to make the trip.
but little do they know it’s bedding for toads. It arrives Wednesday, some reviews say it can come with gnat infestations, hope that doesn’t happen, or if it does, then my toads will need to have babies so the babies can eat all the gnats.
