My 12-year-old’s teacher sent her home with a RODENT and I have no idea what to do.

My daughter is taking a STEM-centered enrichment program this summer. She made a friend there who we found out lives close by, so I generally give the friend a ride when I pick up my daughter. In the meantime, they stay in the science classroom.The teacher in there has 2 pet snakes and some kind of turtle. The girls are both animal lovers and they voluntarily stay a little late and help out with them (although I think they mostly just play with them).What I didn’t realize, was that the teacher occasionally feeds the snake living mice instead of frozen/thawed. Yesterday, my daughter and her friend apparently felt sorry for one of the mice that was to be eaten and they asked if they could “save” it. I guess the teacher has lots of mice so he just gave it to them. When I picked my daughter and her friend up and they sort of acted weirdly but I didn’t think much of it. But when we got home, my daughter showed me the rat that she’d hidden away in her bag.She thinks we’re keeping it as a pet. I do not want it. I’m terrified of these things and I never consented to owning it.She is outright refusing to give it back to the teacher, and I’m considering whether I should return it myself. She’s highly upset though and I don’t want to crush her spirit.I know this is a weird scenario, but how would you all handle this?? My husband is sort of on the side of just letting her care for it, but I don’t want it in my house. (I know some people like rats, and I’m not trying to be offensive, but they creep me out).Advice would be appreciated. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2Mh7zia