Why you should publish Publishing your results is important for several reasons. First, it is a crucial step in the scientific process. The growth of knowledge can only happen if people communicate what they've found out to one another. Giving talks and going to conferences helps, but the published paper gives people a chance to really take in what you have to report. Herpetology as a hobby is great, but you don't need to be a student or employed as a scientist to do it.
Science is essentially a dialogue conducted among people with a shared interest.
Well, our society is fortunately affluent enough to employ people to actually go out and study nature for a living. However, universities and government agencies are not that affluent, which means that only a minority of people trained to do biology will find gainful employment doing biology. Employers naturally want the most for their research dollars, so this means hiring people who are not only cluey about biology, but who also see projects through to completion. Now all you need to do is tell people about what you've found. If it's not a manuscript, it will be grants, reviews, reports, etc.