Zoos offer the perfect Valentine's Day gift for your love or an ex: a cockroach

Zoos across the country have continued to whip up a particular animal tradition for Valentine's Day. And whether you want to celebrate your current boo or symbolically punish your ex, there's a cockroach out there for you.

Do you want to get your lovebug a cockroach for Valentine's Day?
Do you want to get your lovebug a cockroach for Valentine's Day?  © Collage: 123RF/nonchanon & finpoints

"You've done the flowers, you've done the chocolates. But you can't spell 'romance' without 'roach,'" the Bronx Zoo tweeted in an advertisement for its annual Name a Roach Program. "Okay, you can. But you shouldn't."

The Bronx Zoo's hit program for the love-filled holiday lets you name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after your sweetheart – and is going into its 12th year.

The naming costs $15 and is a donation to the zoo. If you want to take things one step further, you can also spring for a bunch of roach-related swag, like a tumbler or tote.

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The zoo also suggests snuggling with the one you love by going on a creepy crawly Valentine's Virtual Encounter with a Madagascar hissing cockroach and, per the zoo's website, a "surprise animal guest." It might also make for a fun adventure for the kiddos to bring your little bug lovers along, too.

But the Bronx Zoo isn't the only one getting in on the bug loving dedications, as more have upped the ante for those looking for a lover's sweet revenge.

Zoos have the perfect Valentine's Day treat for your ex

You can name a cockroach after your ex for some Kafka-esque revenge.
You can name a cockroach after your ex for some Kafka-esque revenge.  © 123rf/yod67

Your Valentine's Day can also be dedicated to a lover that spurned you, or a relationship that simply didn't work out.

A $15 dollar donation to the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois gets you a naming certificate and your ex's name right on the cockroach naming board – meaning you can actually go to the zoo and see your old love turned into a bug, and displayed loud and proud.

As the zoo says, "It's the gift that keeps on giving."

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San Antonio's Zoo's Cry Me a Cockroach Fundraiser takes the idea of revenge a bit farther. For $5, $10, or $25, you can purchase and name a cockroach, rodent, or veggie after your "ex-partner, boss, or bestie."

But this bug or leaf won't live out their days peacefully in an enclosure. The zoo will feed your ex's namesake to one of their zoo animals.

And for the first time since the program started three years ago, you can now take your grudge to the next level. For a $150 upgrade, you can receive "an individualized video message of your cockroach, rodent, or veggie being fed to one of [the] animals for you to send to your not-so-special someone."

Regardless if you associate Valentine's Day with love or loathing, zoos around the country have a bug for you.

Cover photo: Collage: 123RF/nonchanon & finpoints

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