classroom pet!

[wierdo4life]

A teacher at my highschool has just gotten a young rat as a classroom pet. Her hermit crabs died so she decided to get a rat! He is in a 20 gallon tank and is on cedar bedding and she is only feeding him raw potatoes and lettuce!! She has a wheel for him that is metal and he could get a toe caught on easily. He doesn't even have an igloo or anything for him to hide in or sleep in. I also don't think she realizes how big hes going to get. I told her that hes going to get a lot bigger and she was just like oh hes a "medium" rat. I cannot let this rat continue to live like this. She is the kind of teacher who if I told her what proper care was she would probably just get an attitude with me and brush me off. I am thinking of just typing up a pamplet on proper rat care and sliding it under or door or putting it in her teacher mailbox. Does this sound like a good idea? I'm just not quiet sure how do handle this situation.

[VoodooJoint]

Personally I would contact the principle or dean about your concerns that the rat is being kept in an inadequate and unsafe manner and is being fed a VERY poor diet. Let him/her know that it is illegale to cruelly confine an animal and not feed it an apropriate diet. Give the principle/dean all the info on proper housing, bedding, accesories and food and let him/her do the dirty work. Keep checking up to make certain the changes are being made. If nothing changes, remind the principle/dean again and inform him/her that you may need to contact the school board and local animal authorities if changes aren't made soon.

[Coopdog]

I'm surprised that's even allowed in the school. Our school doesn't allow anything like that.

Anyway, I guess you could print up a flyer to give to her (maybe highlight the most important facts, since she probably won't bother reading through it all), along with a bag of proper bedding, a good wheel, and some quality rat chow. Present it all in a friendly, positive way. Hopefully, she'll take the hint and start providing better care.

[CavySpirit]

It's been my experience, that teachers can be some of the worst when it comes to attitude when you try to 'educate' them about this kind of thing. Some of them view themselves as the source of knowledge on just about everything it seems. God forbid you should point out that they -- above all others -- should be a glowing role model of 'doing it the right way' and that they are not. I don't mean this as a stereotype generalization, but when you do get someone with that personality, it can be extreme when it comes to teachers.

[Slave to the Wheek]

I agree about teachers not exactly being teachable. BUT I have seen a successful experience on another forum where the teacher was so embarrassed when the Jr. Guinea Pig expert in her high school classroom took it in her own hands to try to affect the life of just that one animal. The teacher actually listened to student.

You can also be sly. I mean, what is the point of having the rat in the classroom EXACTLY? You can approach with a questioning attitude such as,
"So ....Why do you have an animal in the classroom?"
"oh..to teach children about animals{ or respect for life or to use in experiment might be her crazy answer.

Here's an example of an approach to take with a typical teacher:

[FONT=Palatino Linotype]"So, you must know all about how to care for them huh? Otherwise it seems like it might do more harm than good if you taught kids the wrong things and treated the animal with disrespect. I would be scared of showing a bad example.
pause thoughtul

It's funny because I have researched a lot about guinea pigs and they have certain health and space requirements. Huh..(big shoulder shrug and sigh) you would think that rats wouldn't be that much different..but I guess you know what your doing or you wouldn't do it."
[FONT=Arial]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial]Coming from a young child these words would be far more effective than from an adult. I've had many experiences where an 8 or 13 year old got me to see things differently without even trying. Just by asking questions.[/FONT][/FONT]

[this_lil_piggy]

I never knew my son's school allowed "class pets" beyond goldfish, but found out through a friend of mine recently that some classes do have them *gag* She was telling me that her daughters teacher last year had a hamster, and each weekend a different child in the class would be responsible for taking the hamster home for the weekend and caring for it. We are talking about 1st graders here!! What an idiot.
I would be livid if a teacher pawned off an animal on my child to bring home, and I imagine alot of parents got pretty angry over it. I exspecially dont want my child taught the lesson that you can acquire a pet, and then pawn it off on other people to take care of!
It got to the point last year that no one was allowed to take the hamster home anymore, except my friends child so she had it every weekend. Then, when school ended last year, guess who the teacher pawned the hamster off on for the entire summer? Certainly not herself!! It wound up dying over the summer break in my friends care.

Now this friends other daughter is in 1st grade, got the same teacher this year, and this teacher is about to get another class hamster. I guess she didnt learn her lesson last year. ARGH!

[ljm0104]

I had a science teacher that wasn't taking care of the animals in her classroom. But, when I kind of mentioned that I had some of those animals of my own, she let me help her and I am glad to report all the animals are alive and well. I check up on them even though I don't go to that school anymore.

[CavyKind]

Originally Posted by CavySpirit

It's been my experience, that teachers can be some of the worst when it comes to attitude when you try to 'educate' them about this kind of thing. Some of them view themselves as the source of knowledge on just about everything it seems.

Phew...I thought I was the only one who thought that way! Well not quite.
I used to be a RN in a Special Care Baby Unit and when we used to get teacher moms and dads in we used to think "oh no, here we go"

Of course not all thought were more knowledgable on neonatal care than us! But they could be hard work some of them and spoke to us like we kids in the classroom if they could get away with it! It's in their nature, well some of them.

And like most of us here I would guess. I just don't like the idea of pets in the classroom on a full time basis...period.

[this_lil_piggy]

Thankfully the teachers my son has had so far don't have or want class pets. They do allow and encourage "pet visits" on occassion as long as he pet is cleared through the school first. Personally I think that is a much better option.
It all started last year when Jacob's 1st grade teacher decided to have pet week. Parents of her class were allowed to schedule appointments to bring a pet into the classroom. It went really well. Several parents brought a cat, or a small dog, there was even one parent that brought a horse and a cow on the grounds for the kids to see and touch. We took our labrador over on one day and the kids loved him so much that they wound up inviting all the 1st grade classes out onto the grounds to watch his tricks. 3 kids from each class were allowed to come forward and toss a ball for him to fetch.

It was all just so orderly. The teachers did a great job at keeping their kids quiet, and in line and easy with the pets. One by one each kid got to experience several kinds of animals and hear about their care and it didnt require having a poor hamster locked up in a tiny cage and alone in a classroom or being pawned off on parents on weekends, holidays, and summer breaks.
This year in 2nd grade I guess I have kind of unknowingly given parents the idea. Back in September after our baby gps were a few weeks old, I loaded them and their mom into a carrier and made a classroom visit. I sat in front of the classroom and talked about gp care while one by one the kids were allowed to come to the front, feed Chloe a small piece of lettuce, and pet her. Alot of them had never even seen a gp much less touched one, and they were fascinated. The best thing was a few of the kids did own gps and didnt know they could/should feed them veggies....so they went home a little more educated on them so they could tell their parents. Since then Jacob has come home and said "Mom, so in so's dad brought a hog to our class today for a visit" "So in so's mom brought their cat".
I'm tickled that this has become an option with some teachers rather than hemming a pet up in a classroom for a school year.

[wierdo4life]

Well I've decided to give her some papers on proper rat care and inform her on how to greatly improve the rat's life. If she doesn't make any changes then I'm going to report it to the principal. Thanks for all the good ideas. I'll keep you all up to date on what happens. I have a bad feeling about how this teacher will react though, I'm just going to have to try not to get too frustrated with her. Wish me luck.

[rockyshero]

Wow sounds bad. Why on earth is it living like that?