Since I'm on the subject of class pets, I'm reminded of a group of kids I had 7 years ago. Although all of the kids were sweet, there were some definite behavior issues, primarily with the boys. They were a group of extremely immature boys who spent a lot of time off task. However, I had a very mature group of girls who were really serious about school and learning. You can probably imagine the climate of that class!
That particular year we had two cockatiels as pets, but I never let them out of the cage because I didn't want to hype up some of the little guys. One afternoon, all of the boys were called to an assembly for Cub Scouts recruitment. While they were gone, the girls begged me to let the birds fly around the room a little. I got them all in a large circle on the floor and opened the cage. Those birds flew all over that room, and I even got them to perch on some of the girls' outstretched arms, much to the girls' delight! After a few minutes, I caught the birds and put them back in the cage. I didn't want the boys to know that they had missed out, so we all agreed not to tell them about letting the birds out. (Remember, these were mature girls, and they kept that secret!)
During the year, once in a while the girls would remind me (in private conversations, of course) how much fun it was the day the boys left the room for those few minutes. Several of the girls continued to visit me as they moved on to the upper grades, and they still talked about it, "Remember the time the boys left and it was just us girls and you let the birds out?"
It's funny the things that our students recall about their time in our classrooms! You never know which events will stand out in their minds as being important!