Welcome to the forum, @Blackprincess!
I don’t have the answers because I find myself herping by accident (Oh, cool a snake/ turtle/frog!) but here is this topic (doesn’t really answer your question directly but may have other useful information if you’re developing an interest in herps):
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/herping-etiquette-and-opinions/1955
I live near some water I can visit each day so I try to look for female turtles moving about going to or from a scrape around the appropriate times of year and I generally look for sunning snakes but other than that, I’m useless :)
I’m sure @tiwane’s interest in herps might be helpful?