05/09/2026
This is why I call them partners!! They see what it is like to have gone thru hard times and made it out stronger. They never give up and are always willing to learn new things!! They have gone above and beyond for me and shown me they care for more than just their animals. They care for the people they work with as well and I am proud to always refer them to people whenever I am not able to help!! I am n always will be proud to say that Chicago Exotic Pets & Rattery is a sister rattery of mine!!
Love you gals 🥰
There was a season in my life where everything felt heavy, uncertain, and completely out of my control.
As a single mother, I was doing everything I could to keep my family together while my son struggled deeply with his mental health. It affected every part of his daily life, especially school, and he needed constant support, patience, and stability. I became his safe place. In the middle of trying to hold everything together, my daughter, only two years older than him, stepped beside me and became far more than just a child in the home. She became my partner in survival, my helper, and my strength during some of the hardest moments of our lives.
What we built together came from love, perseverance, and refusing to give up on each other.
Out of that difficult season, Chicago Exotic Pets & Rattery was born.
We started with a few sugar gliders, hedgehogs, and a small group of rats from a reputable breeder. Our home slowly became something much deeper than raising animals. We poured into them the same gentleness, patience, and care that we were trying to pour back into our own lives. Those animals became a source of comfort, peace, healing, and connection, not only for us, but for so many others.
Over time, our animals began reaching beyond our home and into the lives of families with children, individuals needing emotional support, classrooms teaching compassion and responsibility, senior centers, and rehabilitation facilities. We began witnessing firsthand how something so small could make such a powerful impact on people who simply needed comfort, joy, or connection.
This journey became deeply personal to me because I understand what it feels like to be overwhelmed, exhausted, isolated, and searching for peace in the middle of hardship. I have seen how love, patience, and connection, even through animals, can bring healing into places that feel broken.
The road has not been easy. There were many moments filled with exhaustion, sacrifice, uncertainty, and emotional weight. But through it all, we kept going. Not because life was easy, but because we believed there had to be purpose in our pain.
Chicago Exotic Pets & Rattery became more than a name. It became part of our testimony.
It is a reminder that even in life’s hardest seasons, something beautiful can still grow. That healing can come from unexpected places. That purpose can be born from struggle. And that sometimes the very thing that helps save others is also the thing that helped save you.
