How MY love of herps began...
I was always a bit of a tomboy when I was growing up in South Carolina. As far back as I can remember, I have been playing with worms, catching frogs and toads, and collecting rolly-pollies. I remember catching ditch minnows and keeping them in a jar, and sometimes creating little eco-systems inside. Other than the minnows, I was never allowed to keep anything I caught, and there was plenty to catch! We lived in Berkeley County in South Carolina, in a town called Moncks Corner. Moncks Corner and the surrounding areas are largely swamp, which is a perfect place to find frogs and other neat critters. There are so many frogs in the summertime that they will jump right on you when you walk out of the door. I grew up surrounded by what has become one of my greatest joys in life. Froggsong was my lullaby. 
When I was younger, I collected unicorns. I went to live with my aunt at one point and decided I wanted to collect something different. Unicorn stuff was just getting too easy to find! I thought about it for a little while, and decided that I was going to collect frog stuff. I still have all my unicorns, but frogs are the thing! When I decided to collect frogs, you hardly EVER came across collectible frog stuff. I was the very first LovesFrogs on AOL. 
Frogs are everywhere these days, but when I started collecting them, they weren't cool yet. I like to think of myself as one of the people who got the "frog trend" going. I know, I'm a dork, lol. I collected more and more frog stuff, but I still didn't have any live ones yet.
When I was 19, I started dating my husband. He bought me my very first frog, or more accurately, my very first toad. I wasn't really prepared, and didn't know much about herps at that point, and sadly, he didn't make it long. I came home one day to a little toad mummy. 
It was very sad and we decided not to get another one. My resolve was not to last though. One day we were shopping at Petco and I was just looking at the fish and herps that they had, and I spotted this frog with the coolest knobby hips. She looked at me, and I looked at my husband and said, "His name is Joe! I must have him!" Turns out Joe is a girl, but I don't care, she's my knobby little froglet. I took Joe home, and thus began my collection!
Because I didn't know any better, I started just adding other herps to the same cage that Joe was in. I added an anole that I caught (for some reason I can't remember his name... I let him go the next summer), and then three squirrel frogs, named Brick (found in, you guessed it, a brick), Herman, and Sleepy (what a big fat, lazy girl she was). After I let the anole go, I happened upon another that I decided to keep, I named him Brutus. On my 21st birthday, my uncle's wife bought me a FBT (fire bellied toad) who's name is Starvin' Marvin. I'm lucky I have never had any of the problems associated with keeping a mixed tank, especially since I started out the way I did.
At this point, I have LOTS of herps. I still have Joe and Marvin, and I also have an Oregon Newt named Saphira, a CWD (Chinese Water Dragon) named Rikutu, a Ball Python named Graham, a new FBT named Aphrodite, and two new additions, a Bearded Dragon named Franky and a Corn Snake named Masquerade.