I think it is important to not take more animals than you can care for.

I think it is important to not take any animals you do not know how to care for.

I think it is important to follow all local laws - and always return boards/logs/etc to their original position, and never destroy a hiding spot in the field.

I think it is important to not take any animal that you do not already have caging for. Keeping it in a makeshift cage until you buy proper caging is wrong. Proper caging means a quarantine tank that has been cleaned and is ready to receive a new pet with very little setup required.

I think it is important to not take wild animals from a population that you know is in trouble, with one exception - habitat destruction.

If, say, rubber boa sighting are becoming extremely rare in your area but there is plenty of habitat - then release any you find. If the fields are being bulldozed, the wild habitat can no longer support the population. In those cases, collection means reduction of population that would have happened via animal death anyway.

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The primary factor for the demise of most species is habitat destruction, not the hobbyist herper. In some places, commercial collection may also decimate a population, but the hobbyist is not a commercial collector.

Some species should only be taken by the scientific commnunity because they simply do not make good pets - such as slender salamanders, sharp tailed snakes, some species of ringneck snakes (some only feed on slender salamanders and are thus difficult to keep), etc.

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I think it is important to occasionally take WC snakes from places where the population is healthy for the purpose of introducing new genetic material to the captive bred lines.

Some species (California Kingsnakes) have plenty of genetic variety in captivity, but some may not.

Anyway - those are my thoughts.

Technically it is illegal where I live, but I like catch, observe, release - where you collect a wild specimen, keep it for a few days - and then release it EXACTLY where you collected it.

The cage needs to be cleaned after release before the next capture to prevent disease transmission, and hands should be washed before/after handling of course.

I also do catch and keep for some specimens.

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