The NASA Boys

Here you will find links to pages about these little guys...

The Diary pages - updated 04/03/2011

Little Mischief Rescue's story of Armstrong, Aldrin, Conrad and Dangerous Bean - a.k.a. The NASA Boys

Page One - Their Adventure from Canada to Woodinville with pics

Page Two - Their new digs with pics

Finally, all of the boys are out on the bed exploring NEW!

As of May 20, 2011 - Conrad is the last of the NASA boys. He had been a room mate with Topper, who was the last of Willow's children. Both looked really lonely and both were so laid back that I tried an introduction and they got along right away. And upon watching them for the time they were together, it looked like Conrad was taking care of Topper and watching out for him. After all, Topper was 1 year his senior.

Then Topper passed away and Conrad kept looking at me from inside his big cage where he was now all alone. I knew he needed someone, but who? Then I thought of Jake, from the Everett boys bunch. He is from one of the first litters born at the shelter in late December 2010 so he is bigger than the three other Everett boys. But there is something special about him - something very calming and Conrad must have thought so too. They took to one another really quickly.

But knowing that Jake was also very young I knew he would have much more energy than Conrad could burn up. I decided that he needed one of his brothers with him. I chose Sir Gilbert who is also extremely friendly, but also quite active. Gilbert also got accepted by Conrad.

This morning I was watching them. Gilbert and Jake were chasing each other all around the cage. Conrad was sitting in his hammock staring out at me as if to say, "There they go again. Can't a fella get some rest around here?" I chucked and then saw Conrad turn around a gently push Jake from the hammock. He had crawled in behind him and burrowed into the pockets of the hammock. This of course caused much movement of the hammock which was what caused Conrad to finally call off their fun and games. He makes a great Dad. I am glad he is happy with these boys. Conrad is the eldest of all our rats now by a year.

As of June 28, 2011 -

And good news is that Conrad, who was the last NASA boy and was left alone when Topper passed away is happy with Hamlet. It seems that Marty, smaller of the two Everett Brothers, kept picking on Hamlet. And Gilbert and Jake were just not leaving each other alone causing a lack of sleep for Conrad. So now Hamlet is in with Conrad. Now, Conrad loves to sleep in his hammock. But, unlike boys, Hamlet is chewed the straps of the hammock so many times that I have run out of strap to fix. Poor Conrad. I have since put in a new hammock to see if Hamlet will leave it alone - but last I checked - one corner is now unattached. :-(

September 15, 2011 -

Wow. I haven't posted here in a long time about Conrad. Let's see - Hamlet decided he didn't want to live with Conrad. I dunno why, but I tried Jake again and they were fine. Up until today when I found Conrad in his hammock, all curled up as if he was sleeping. But his nap will be a very long one now for he passed away in his sleep. So now he is with his brothers who he must have missed. And he will be missed by us. He was such a laid back kind of guy.

He did have a wart kind of thing on his back - but it never grew past a "smaller than pea size". It never gave him any discomfort that I could tell. He did have an infection or something in his left eye. It swelled and looked like there was blood in his eye. But antibiotics seemed to heal it as the swelling went down and the red in the eye went away which was about a month ago. I believe he lost most of his sight in it.

At noon he was on top of the tube in his cage and wanted a Yogi as usual. Then around 5:30pm I found him lifeless but still very warm. I held him for a long time to make sure he was gone trying to feel and hear a heartbeat. But he never moved either. So his body has been laid to rest near his brothers and Willow's boy, Topper who had been his cagemate too.