Roses? No, try roaches for an unusual Valentine’s Day gift

Roses? No, try roaches for an unusual Valentine’s Day gift (Photo: Steve Snodgrass/Facebook)

NEW YORK—Roses are red, violets are blue, how about having a roach named for you?

The Bronx Zoo is offering people the chance to name one of its Madagascar hissing cockroaches in honour of someone for Valentine’s Day.

The zoo in New York City started offering the name-a-roach program in 2011 as a fun way to fundraise. For $10, recipients get an emailed certificate telling them one of the insects from the world’s largest roach species has been named for them. This year, the zoo is also offering to send along chocolates or a Madagascar cockroach plush toy for higher donations.

No worries about there not being enough roaches to go around—the museum said it had thousands of them on exhibition.

The money goes to the Wildlife Conservation Society.