Salary
Average Salary: $63,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,630,124
You didn't really write that 80,000-word essay on the springtime mating habits of tomato frogs to get rich, did you? We hope not, because we've got to be honest, here: The only herpetologists driving home from work in a Lamborghini every day are moonlighting as upscale car thieves.
That being said, you shouldn't expect to be living in a cardboard box with the feral relatives of your test subjects either. Like most academic pursuits, there's an earnings spectrum that's going to align pretty tidily with how much knowledge (in the classroom or in the field) you can vacuum into the depths of your brain.
If you truly have dreams of becoming a scientist, a.k.a. a professional learner, it seems unlikely that you'd choose to stop learning at the undergraduate level. But let's say you did. You probably know enough about reptiles to handle them in front of screaming children at a zoo, milk some snake venom to sell to researchers, or teach high school students about general biology (and then really perk up at the frog chapters). At this level of education, you're probably going to take home about $20,000 to $45,000 a year (source).
Now if you lay out the time, sweat, and money for a PhD, things get a bit rosier. Sure, you can still scare little Timmy by letting Beux, the Lowry Park Zoo boa constrictor, lick his nose if you really want to...but you could also run your own research projects or teach alongside the foremost herpetologists in the field. With a good degree, and some real experience under your (faux) snakeskin belt, you might be looking at $55,000 to $80,000 a year.