Bronx Zoo Valentine's Day Roaches

emmett

emmett

Third Instar
For the past few years the Bronx Zoo in New York has been doing a promotional event for St. Valentine's Day where you can name a madagascar hissing roach after your partner as a symbol of "resilient and ever lasting love", advertising the 'cockroaches are immortal creatures' to the public while also going "name a roach after your gross ex"

Anyway, they have the Name A Roach certificate that they print and send to you and they also offer little gifts. Last year it was a plush cockroach but this year its hisser socks and a hisser enamel pin. Theres also 'cockroach chocolates' which is just chocolate in the shaoe of a bug. They are very cute (but overpriced in my opinion) and the money goes to helping the zoo. I think it's pretty interesting and the promotional videos are really cute...they has a hisser on Tinder! It was hilarious.

The event ends soon (Im in no way sponsored by the Bronx Zoo) but I want to know what everyone thinks! There isnt a lot of cockroach paraphernalia out there and as a roach lover Ive been itching to get the pin, especially since last year I missed out on the plushie.

Here's The Website's Link

Id love to hear what you guys think! (i apologize if this is the wrong place to post this, I wasnt really sure)

 
Now, if a large zoo dares to call roaches "immortal" and "gross" when the insects involved are harmless hissers, I'd be a bit mad. Even the "pest" roach (no insect is truly a pest) Periplaneta americana is pretty pathetic at home invasion. I think this is also the case with all the other house-dwelling species that are not Blattella germanica.

I believe @Tleilaxu has actually managed to find and rescue a dying P. australasiae that was starving and dehydrated in his house.

Anyways...

I checked the website carefully for any signs of anti-roach bias, and they didn't use any insulting words to describe their hissers; this is good. The one complaint I have is that they failed to say anything particularly positive about the roaches either, and seemed to passively allow whatever false beliefs the visitors hold about roaches to continue uncontradicted.

PS: I would love a plush hisser, though I'm hoping it wasn't anthropomorphized. :wub:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was thinking pretty much the exact same thing! It bugs me a little bit to see there isn't more of an educational part to it. I find that almost everybody I talk to about cockroaches thinks that theyre cool once they realize it's not the ones in their apartments lol. That was before I even had any of ny own. I volunteer for the girl scouts troop in my area and I love doing things like that with them, education really does create so much respect and tolerance even if they still dont like insects. Recently I brought my hissers over for the girls to watch because one of the mothers suggested that I talk to them about the hissers because of the zoo's things and they thought they were awesome!

 
Test Account said:
Now, if a large zoo dares to call roaches "immortal" and "gross" when the insects involved are harmless hissers, I'd be a bit mad. Even the "pest" roach (no insect is truly a pest) Periplaneta americana is pretty pathetic at home invasion. I think this is also the case with all the other house-dwelling species that are not Blattella germanica.

I believe @Tleilaxu has actually managed to find and rescue a dying P. australasiae that was starving and dehydrated in his house.

Anyways...

I checked the website carefully for any signs of anti-roach bias, and they didn't use any insulting words to describe their hissers; this is good. The one complaint I have is that they failed to say anything particularly positive about the roaches either, and seemed to passively allow whatever false beliefs the visitors hold about roaches to continue uncontradicted.

PS: I would love a plush hisser, though I'm hoping it wasn't anthropomorphized. :wub:
Click to expand...
I've found several Periplaneta species in the house while I was down in Florida, most were on the verge of dying due to dehydration and starvation. Some were to far gone to save. A majority of the ones I caught were outside.

Blattella is a lot more hardy.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Test Account said:
Now, if a large zoo dares to call roaches "immortal" and "gross" when the insects involved are harmless hissers, I'd be a bit mad. Even the "pest" roach (no insect is truly a pest) Periplaneta americana is pretty pathetic at home invasion. I think this is also the case with all the other house-dwelling species that are not Blattella germanica.

I believe @Tleilaxu has actually managed to find and rescue a dying P. australasiae that was starving and dehydrated in his house.

Anyways...

I checked the website carefully for any signs of anti-roach bias, and they didn't use any insulting words to describe their hissers; this is good. The one complaint I have is that they failed to say anything particularly positive about the roaches either, and seemed to passively allow whatever false beliefs the visitors hold about roaches to continue uncontradicted.

PS: I would love a plush hisser, though I'm hoping it wasn't anthropomorphized. :wub:
Click to expand...
My P. Americana wouldn’t dare leave their home.... there’s no strawberries, banana, or cooked chicken OUTSIDE. Ha. Really though... cockroaches spend more time cleaning themselves than most animals, so gross is just derogatory. BTW, that man who saved the Australian cockroach... well God bless him!

 
im really excited to do this next year!!(and every year as long as I can holy carp) I'm gonna get a buttload of memorabilia  :wub:

 
I got the enamel pin this year, and it's really nice quality. I was pleasantly surprised. 

I'm looking for the plush roach if anyone has one to sell. 

 
Axolotl said:
I got the enamel pin this year, and it's really nice quality. I was pleasantly surprised. 

I'm looking for the plush roach if anyone has one to sell. 
Click to expand...
i have this years pin, i get lots of questions on it! ive also been tryint to hunt down the plushie.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top