Interesting topic.
I personally act a little like Vespian said above so I can give my self a rank inbetween the 5-6 range.
There isn't many characters I can throw away, unless I find a specific reason to.
So I've still got my first ever character (not only on FeralHeart) in mind, because I roleplayed as that dog over and over as the years passed by, but slighlty edited it.
I keep my character designs up to my limitless imagination first on paper, and then shape it to fit the markings inside the game.
I obviously use mass markings since the choice of the default markings doesn't give much of a unique 'choice'.
In total I have made 4 characters this year, and all in total I have 20. Many old, but they're still there, used.
Proud of all and using them daily there isn't much I can do with new characters. It's better to have a ratten design and modify it a little than a new character every time you play. Meh.
If I really don't like a character I end up giving it up or selling it on deviantart where other people trade the design for points.
These obviously aren't the feralheart characters, they're the original designs.
There ain't much things I trade anyway, like I said before I prefer keepin' my customizable characters to myself for a while.
I had fun reading all of the replies, and I've spotted that a lot of this ties with how we roleplay.