Well, just a few hours ago, I made myself release the last of the 4 american toads I had in my posession.
About a month ago I collected 18 tadpoles, raised them up, and when they morphed, I released 14 of them.
I kept 4, thinking that I might want to keep them as pets. Mainly just keeping them as a new experience, as I've never kept amphibians before.
I must admit over the past week or 2, I had gotten especially attached to one of them, and while I would have liked to have kept it, I decided that it was probably best for me to return it to the wild with it's brothers and sisters.
Yes, it would have gotten great attention in my care, but I took it from the wild so I thought it best to return it to the wild.
It seemed to have been very smart, gaining weight in leaps and bounds compaired to it's brothers and sisters. I hope that of all of the ones I released, I hope it is savy enough to make it into adulthood. Whatever happens to it, I will always remember caring for it as a fun and memorable experience. And now that I know what it is like to care for toads I now feel more inclined to try my hand at another species of amphibian in the future. If nothing else, it opened up the door to experience new herps, not just the scaly ones. 
I will miss it.
Here it is right out of the water:
Here it is right before I released it:
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alstiver@hotmail.com
1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.1 Northern water snake (temporary pet)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)
