Class Pet?

To be (a class pet) or not to be?

I've recently been given the option of borrowing this little lady as a class pet.

For the record, I hate the idea of class pets. I don't have one. Never wanted one. They are distracting. Messy. You have to worry about them on weekends and find sitters for them over long breaks. It's one more creature to worry about in an already crowded room. Yet another creature that won't clean up after itself.

But... it would earn me some cool teacher points. Most of the other first grade classrooms have something, even if it's just a frog or two. I've caught my students staring longingly at Tad, the neighboring reptile, whenever we pass through his classroom. And we're about to launch into our animal unit.

BUT (notice the bigger but), Matt has already declared he will not have this rodent in our house. Turtle, maybe. Gerbil, no.

What to do? What to do?