Name a Cockroach After Your Ex, Then Watch It Get Eaten

If a recent breakup has ruined your plans for Feb. 14, El Paso Zoo will at least provide satisfying entertainment. In what it's calling "the perfect Valentine's Day gift," the Texas zoo is offering to name a cockroach after your ex before feeding it to a meerkat, marmoset, or tamarin before your eyes. The "Quit Bugging Me" promotion is "a fun way to get the community involved in our daily enrichment activities," event coordinator Sarah Borrego tells KTVT, noting you can watch your cockroach be devoured in a Feb. 14 live-stream on the zoo's website or Facebook page. The initial plan, revealed Monday, was for meerkats to dine exclusively. By Thursday, the zoo said marmosets and tamarins would also be snacking following "a tremendous response."

Those interested in participating can still send the zoo a message on Facebook with their ex's name by Sunday, per KFDM. There's no charge, though the zoo is accepting donations. The names will then be displayed around the animal exhibits, and on social media, starting Monday. The meerkats are expected to feast at 2:15pmMST on Feb. 14. Feasting times for cotton-top tamarins, golden tamarins, and white-headed marmosets are to be announced next week. And if it helps inspire your choice of name, Borrego notes the cockroaches will be Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which are "very large" and "do actually hiss." (If your ex is more snake-like, this is the contest for you.)