BRONX, NY – Jan. 18, 2022 – It has become one of the most talked about holiday traditions of a generation – and the original Bronx Zoo’s Valentine’s Day Name-a-Roach gift package is back for 2022.

For more than a decade, the Bronx Zoo offers the opportunity to symbolically name its 10,000-plus giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches. The tongue-in-cheek Valentine’s Day gift comes with a colorful certificate emailed to your loved one announcing that a cockroach has been named in his or her honor.

The Name-a-Roach offering is a fun, light-hearted way to make sure your loved one knows your feelings will last a lifetime while helping the Bronx Zoo and WCS further its mission to save wildlife and wild places in New York and around the world.

For a $15 donation, your Valentine will receive a printable certificate featuring the name chosen for the roach named in their honor. To make an extra special impression, orders can be upgraded for additional donation to include an all new knit beanie, a pair of roachy socks, and a special virtual Bronx Zoo Animal Encounter with a live Madagascar hissing cockroach and another animal guest. All upgrades are while supplies last. Name-a-Roach gift orders can be placed at BronxZoo.com/Roach.

Bronx Zoo Name-a-Roach Gift Packages:

  • Digital certificate $15
  • Socks or beanie (plus certificate) $35
  • Socks + Wild Encounter (plus certificate) $60
  • Beanie + Wild Encounter (plus certificate) $60
  • The Works (socks, beanie, Wild Encounter, and certificate) $75

The original Name-a-Roach was launched by the Bronx Zoo in 2011, and thousands of hopeless romantics from around the world have named the zoo’s Madagascar hissing cockroaches after friends, family, and loved ones. Previous names chosen have been inspired by politics, music, movies, and more. The possibilities are limitless.

The zoo has plenty of roaches to name with thousands of the super-sized bugs on exhibit in Madagascar! – an award-winning habitat for lemurs, crocodiles, and many other species from the African island nation.

Madagascar hissing cockroaches, reaching nearly four-inches long, are the world’s largest roach species.  The namesake hissing noise is emitted as a defense mechanism.  Unlike nearly every other roach species, Madagascar hissing cockroaches are not considered pests and rarely enter homes.