Grover
President, Manager, full time carer for the animals
Hello! I'm Grover, really I'm just your friendly local rat nerd. I've always been an animal lover. I've had pet mice since I was five and rats since I was twelve, and I've never stopped learning about them. As far as community involvement, I'm a former management member of the Queensland Rodent Fanciers Society, where I was proud to write new ethics and animal welfare standards and help set up a system for Approved Rescues, bridging the breeder/rescue divide. I'm also currently sitting on the Small Mammals Advisory Group for Animal Care Australia, lending a specialist voice to challenge government policy setting that impacts animal welfare. I'm currently finishing my honours year for a Bachelor of Advanced Science, my major is biology (plant science) and before my rescue days I was heading into research science as a career.
My role here at the rescue is shifting, for the past two years it's been "everything" but as we grow and settle into a structure I'm becoming more of a manager and advisor to some roles and taking on some new ones, though I'm still the primary caretaker and decision maker for the animals in our care and see to their day to day needs. On a personal level, I'm still a nerd. I love books and games, I play Dungeons and Dragons, I love making things, I love learning. Rescue work is fulfilling on so many levels. What was once a well meaning hobby has evolved into a really important job, one that I can still do alongside chronic health conditions that don't mesh with many traditional job structures. It's an outlet for empathy and my "mum friend" desire to nurture everything, it's a target for creativity and a great way to satisfy my need be challenged academically. It constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone and prompts me to grow, and it's led to me being surrounded by the most incredible, passionate people I could ask for. At the end of the day I'm just a person who loves rats a lot, and my way of sharing that passion is by making their lives better, by direct action and by educating people! Come and love rats with me. <3
Ally (#AdminAlly)
Social Media Manager (and informally appointed Rescue Mum)
Hai there! My name is Admin Ally - you will often find me tagged in posts on the Rachie's Ratirement Home Facebook and Instagram pages, I do a lot of the social media management for the Rescue. I am also the Rescue Secretary at the moment and I help to keep to our members informed and the management side of the Rescue under control. In my day to day life I am a social worker, so loving and snuggling my little furry friends when I get home is a lovely way to chill out after a tough day. I have an ever changing cohort of beautiful foster rats in my care and I am particularly involved with looking after our palliative and high care residents. I also work a lot with malnutrition cases, including rats I support myself, and rat owners that I mentor online. If you have ever emailed the rescue or engaged with our social media accounts - we have likely chatted and I hope to meet you one day at the Rescue!
Chris
Treasurer, Rescue Maintenance, Transport and Rat Carer
Chris takes care of transport, helps with a lot of behind the scenes tasks, and generally shares his life with the rescues. Long before the rescue evolved into what it was, Chris was part of its backbone - cleaning cages when Grover was too sick, loving and handling the rats and always helping wherever he was needed.
He's now filling the role of treasurer, and is responsible for tracking and analysing our finances so we can best achieve our goals, a vital part of keeping the lights on!
Jessie
RRH Executive Team and Foster Care Co-Coordinator
Hey there! My name's Jessie and I'm the Onsite Supervisor here at Rachies Ratirement Home. I work part time as a cleaner and have a passion for the education and development of animal welfare in Australia. I started volunteering at the rescue in early 2021 where I starting off cleaning cages, doing vet transport and daily checks. From there, I began rearranging and reorganising the rescue space, creating a sales area to resell donated cages and accessories and maintaining the overall cleanliness of the rescue. As time went on, I slid into the role of Onsite Supervisor.
In a nutshell, my role as Onsite Supervisor is to maintain the functionality and organisation of the space to ensure that our Volunteers, Visitors and Rat Residents are in a safe and comfortable environment. During my shift, you'll usually find me floating around the rescue sorting through donations, stocking our sales area with hammocks and accessories, doing some "handyman" jobs or having a cuddle with a rattie or two! If you see me around, feel free to say hi and have a chat, I'm always down for chatting with the rat community!
Kyla
Foster Care Coordinator
Heyoo, I'm Kyla and I just so happen to be the Foster Care Coordinator here at Rachie’s. I'm just an ordinary human with a mega obsession for rats! The ability to love so largely when you're so tiny intrigued me greatly when I began owning rats, which then blossomed quickly into me reading every article possible about these amazing creatures. I quickly learned that medical issues are very common and if not correctly treated can become very scary when it comes to our floofy friends, so again I soaked up every possible resource to understand how to correctly manage and treat many medical issues to help my girls and to help identify any possible illness early on in their lives. Not too long after that, I found out about the fostering program at RRH and just knew I had to get involved. I am deeply passionate about helping out these fascinating creatures and learning every aspect about them possible and I hope to do that through our foster care program here at the rescue!
I have a particular interest in the fine anatomy and physiology behind these floofs and aim to only continue learning when working with the Rescue. The medical side of all things rattie deeply interests me and I am passionate about educating those who are also just as passionate as well as continuing to learn more and more myself everyday.
Hope to see you around!
Amy
Sponsorship and Fundraising Coordinator
Hi! My name is Amy, and I'm the Sponsorship and Fundraising Coodinator for Rachie's Ratirement Home! It's my job to coordinate fundraising campaigns for the rescue, and liaise with potential sponsors. Our most recent campaign, Operation Patch Up, has been a great success with many of the patchworks under our care now able to receive the life-saving surgery required to fix the health issues they have.
With a communications background, I dabble in some of the social media for Admin Ally when I'm not spamming my accounts with photos of my own mischief - all of which are RSQ graduates!
Zoe
Adoptions and Surrenders Coordinator
Profile coming soon!
Jasmin
Secretary
Hello I’m Jas! I am secretary and my job is to wrangle paperwork and behind the scenes management and admin jobs. You’ll see me running general meetings and doing my best to support the rest of the team with documentation, policy writing, and future planning.
My introduction into rats was years ago when I stumbled across a cute video of a rat eating spaghetti on Facebook, I dove head first into researching their care needs, I emerged from my rat care hyper-fixation once I felt confident that I knew how how to properly care for them, I adopted my first 3 girls and have never looked back. When it came time to add to my mischief I found the rescue, a little while later I started volunteering as Grover’s assistant and the rest is history!
I am intensely passionate about animal rights and welfare, and working for the rescue is one of my greatest joys. My particular area of interest in rat care is naturalistic enrichment and could talk for hours about bioactive dig boxes, Shunamite diets, and the importance of social groups.
Outside of the rescue I love board games, napping, wearing outlandish patterns, eating delicious vegan food, and being a silly billy. I am disabled, chronically ill, and LGBT+, I adore the beautiful and welcoming community of the rescue and look forward to being part of it for many years to come.
Tara
Volunteer Coordinator
Profile coming soon!
Lex
RRH Executive Team and Health Officer
Hey! I'm Lex! I'm the Health Officer here at RRH. I look after all things first aid, mental health and workplace health and safety for all our amazing volunteers because without them there wouldn’t be a rescue after all!
I have worked within the animal care industry since 2011 and have studied nursing and paramedic science but unfortunately due to health issues have had to put that on hold. For now, I work a corporate job but am involved heavily in the wellbeing, health and safety and pride committees.
I started fostering in July 2022, from there I started doing advanced health checks on all of our residents but felt I could do more and put forward my proposal for the Health Officer role…and here we are! If you see me floating round the rescue please say hi!
Nellie
Assistant Mental Health Officer
Hello I'm Nellie, small dog and assistant mental health officer. My job is to patrol the rescue and make sure everyone's doing okay. I have lots of helpful advice like "stop wasting your time patting rats that are not me" and "stop patting me and give me your lunch" and sometimes I also help keep people on their toes by leaving tiny agility obstacles in the driveway.
My hobbies include wearing silly little jumpies, not being picked up, gumming my food, long naps under the doona where I'm so invisible and crushable, and getting an upset tummy from eating things I shouldn't. If you see me around the rescue, feel free to give me lil scritchies!