Zoo Will Let You Name a Roach for Valentine’s Day

Nothing's more romantic than naming a roach after your significant other.

Valentine's Day is approaching and the Bronx Zoo has just what you need to make your loved one feel special. 

2023 marks the 12th year of the zoo's Name a Roach program, which offers customers an unusual way to express their love for their significant other.

Yes, you heard that right—anyone will have the chance to bring out their hopeless romantic side by naming a Madagascar hissing cockroach after their special someone for Valentine's Day for just $15! 

The zoo offers thousands of cockroaches for you to name that are on display in Madagascar, which is an award-winning habitat for lemurs, crocodiles, and plenty of other species from the African island nation.

In addition to getting a cockroach named after them, your Valentine will also receive a certificate with the name chosen in their honor to memorialize the thoughtful gift. On top of that, all orders can be upgraded to include merchandise like a roach tumbler, a roach tote bag, or a special virtual Bronx Zoo animal encounter with a live Madagascar hissing cockroach.

Customers can purchase the tumbler or tote for an additional $35 on top of the certificate. Adding on the wild encounter is $60, and if you wish to have the tumbler, tote, wild encounter, and certificate, that would come to $75.

All orders must be placed by Feb. 7 to receive the gift by Valentine's Day, and shipping is only available in the United States.

The money benefits the Bronx Zoo and the nonprofit organization, Wildlife Conservation Society, which is dedicated to saving wildlife and wild places in New York and around the world, according to a press release shared with Parade.

Since the inauguration of the program in 2011, thousands of passionate lovers from around the world have named their friends, family, boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancés, wives, husbands—you name it—after a Madagascar hissing cockroach.

These supersized bugs are said to reach up to 4 inches long and are the world's largest roach species. As they're named "hissing" cockroach, they do, in fact, hiss, but only as a defense mechanism. This variety of roach is not considered to be a "pest" and are said to rarely enter homes.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your Valentine a Madagascar hissing cockroach to express your love in the best way possible, because "roaches are forever," according to the zoo's website.