Rat Haven Rescue - About Us

Hi everyone-

My name is Kim Mayes and I am the founder of Rat Haven Rescue. I have owned rats since I was a little girl, some 20 years ago. Back then they were just fantastic pets. Then in my twenties is when the homeless rats started making there way to my house. The sick, the abandoned and the many pet store rejects worked their way into my heart over the years. Now, in my thirties, the reality of Rat Haven Rescue has finally come to be! I care for these homeless rats as they are a part of my own family, until they find their forever home. Our goal here at Rat Haven is to educate the public about the care, love and intelligence of rats as pets.

I have been an animal trainer and behaviorist for 15 years. Most of you know me from training your dog at Petsmart or Petco over the years. I still continue to train everyday and plan to 'til I die -it's a passion of mine! Over the years, I have worked with many different types of animals. I started training horses in the beginning, but since then you name it -dogs, cats, otters, pigs and of course, the rats! Some of the animals I have trained have gone on to work at places such as Arabian Knights, Pets Ahoy! at Seaworld and done print work for magazines such as Bark! and even some books. I am an evaluator for the American Kennel Club (AKC) and also for the Service Animal Registry of America (SARA) where we work with all types of animals. I have worked with many rescue organizations over the years (too many to mention!) and I am a certified Animal Care Specialist as well as a Behaviorist. I am a dedicated member to AFRMA (American Fancy Rat & Mouse Association) and several other rat organizations. Hopefully, with a little work, we can offer more rat events to our area in future years. Don't worry, I'm working on it!

As you can expect, we have a small zoo at our house! I have 3 Siberian Huskies - Nali, Abbey & Seppala - who are all just the loves of my life (I'm pictured above w/Seppala). Between them they have too many titles and awards to mention, so to me they are just great examples of the perfect dogs. The girls are retired sled dogs and Seppala is my trickster. We've competed in Canine Freestyle and he just loves performing for a crowd!

As for the rats, well you know that is always a revolving door. They just never live long enough. Currently I have 9 rats of my own. They are Capone, Hollywood, Broadway, Penelope, Annabelle, Ava, Megan, Flower and Peeps. Broadway & Hollywood are being trick trained and are our ambassadors for rat education when we visit places. Eventually, the girls will be starting extensive trick training as well so they will be able to perform in public. So we have those kids and then all the rescues, plus, you never know when I might add another to my mischief! Most of the rats pictured throughout this website are my own personal kids.

And last but not least, we have our newest addition "Rosie". Rosie is a 2 year old Russian Tortoise. She is very sweet and the animals love to watch her. We rescued her recently, so we are still learning about each other. She was very sick before we got her and went through all kinds of force-feeding and vitamin injections. Now that she is healthy I just want to give her the carefree tortoise life that she deserves!