hey matt- first of all i would like to commend you for wanting to go into herpetology in college. i am a third year at UC Davis and we have the best herpetology class in that nation for undergraduates. the other people were right in that you will not find a herpetology major in this country but your best bet if you come to uc davis is to choose evolution and ecology as your major. then work your ass off to get a research position in a lab on campus. then work your ass off there and get enough credibility for your professor to work with you and sponsor your own research project. i curently work in an aquatic ecology lab which specializes in amphibian and invertebrate ecology. there is however a professor on campus that works with rattlesnake venom and we do have an environmental toxicology program however the toxicology you're thinking of isn't the kind of toxicology offered in college. if you choose to do toxicology you'll more likely end up studying pollution effects on amplibians than the properties on venom. biochemistry is the field you'll need to get into for venom analysis to study protien and enzyme make up of venoms and their effects, etc. as far as money goes you'll probably be broke for the first decade or so of your career but if you pursue it long enough you might find yourself with a professorship at a university which is where you can make a decent amount of money. herpetology affords you many other opportunites. you get to travel generally free of charge and all of your research costs get picke up by a grant. (that is if you're lucky enough for someone to give you 200K for your project). the advantage of all of this is total acedemic freedom in designing and carrying out your experiment. i hope this answers some of your questions. if you have the commitment and the drive to work your ass off for what you want its a great path to take. if you have any other questions feel free to email me at Schell_19@hotmail.com put herpetology/herpetologist in the subject line. cheers -Schell-

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