HOUSTON — This Valentine’s Day, what do you get the person who has everything? They probably don't have this: a Madagascar hissing cockroach named after them.
"We’ve had a lot of really great response," says Houston Museum of Natural Science entomologist Lauren Davidson. "I think people are always weirded out. They’re like, ‘What? You’re doing what with these cockroaches?’"
The museum is letting visitors name the roaches before they spend a few nights in the Heartbreak Motel.
"It’s a little dingy. It’s a little outdated. We’ve got a whole jungle room going on. The honeymoon suite," Davidson says.
Just like the standard roach motel, there are plenty of the critters hanging out on the wall and under the furniture.
"Cockroaches everywhere," says Davidson.
But why name a cockroach after someone you actually like or even love?
"If you want to do it after an ex, you can," Davidson says. "But it’s really better if you do it after someone you love because they’re really cool bugs."
They're cool bugs that, as old wives' tales go, will survive a nuclear blast.
"That’s not quite true, but they do live a long time and they can live in just the weirdest places," says Davidson.
If that describes your Endless Love, here’s the deal. For $10, you get to name the roach, see him added to the motel and you even get a fancy certificate and a cute little pin.
"We really love cockroaches and we hope you love them too," Davidson says.
Though the Heartbreak Motel closes up shop the day after Valentine’s Day, you'll still be able visit your cockroach in the Entomology Hall of the Cockrell Butterfly Center.