For the second year in a row the Bronx Zoo is offering a quirky, city-appropriate homage to love for Valentine's Day. Has your adored been nagging you mercilessly that you you just don't show your affection? Thank goodness for the "Name a Roach" program! For a mere $10 you can devote a roach in name to your loved one; shell out a bit more cash and you'll get a cocoa-roach, or even two, "available in limited quantities and selling fast," made by chocolatier Sabrina Berkowitz of The Chocolate Box NYC.

Zoo sources told The Atlantic Wire today that approximately $40,000 has been raised so far for the Wildlife Conservation Society through the roach-love program. (Last year, they made more than $60,000.) 

For whom are we naming our roaches? Well, there's "Eddie," "Anthony," "Frisky," "Smelly," "Lovebug 2," and "Newt Gingrich." There are also "a couple of Mitts," though our source was not aware of an Obama. Names "look evenly split, both genders are getting them," we were told. 

Note: The real heroes of this program are the 58,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches at the Bronx Zoo, so named because "they make a hissing sound when they're threatened." They will not actually be named for your loved one for Valentine's Day, because, among other things, roach name tags are impossibly small.

You have until Valentine's Day to get your baby a roach. If you need further convincing, here's the amazing promo video. The insect averse should not watch while eating. 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jdoll at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Jen Doll