An Insider’s Look into the First Gecko Store in the World!

To break into our first Leopard Gecko article we thought it would be appropriate to showcase a new venture in the reptile industry, the first ever gecko store in the world! Designer Gecko owners Ray and Carol Rehner are venturing into unknown territory by opening the first official store catering to geckos exclusively. The store is located in Hygiene, Colorado and will be opening in the next couple of weeks. Joining us today is non other than Ray Rehner, co-owner of Designer Geckos.

CHRIS: Hi Ray, before we get ahead of ourselves can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the history of Designer Geckos?

RAY: Hello, and first off, thanks for taking an interest in our new gecko venture. We are very excited about this and hope the gecko community embraces and supports it. The vast amount of time and effort it takes to run a gecko operation cannot be compensated monetarily…those of us who are involved in raising and selling geckos do it because we love the animals. It is our passion, and we want to spread the word about these amazing little creatures because we know how much joy they have brought to us all on a personal level. With the world as it is today, we all need something that makes us feel good and helps to alleviate our stresses…geckos do just that.

I have been raising reptiles and amphibians since I was five. When I was ten, I had what the Buffalo Museum curator said was the largest and oldest garter snake they had ever heard of. She was a massive 4 foot snake, dark gray in color, and sweet as a snake could be. I had no idea garters could get that big, so despite their assessment, I was somewhat skeptical that she was a garter. Mamba’s identity was confirmed one morning when she had 33 beautiful little striped garter snake babies. I used to walk around my neighborhood with her around my neck. She was a great friend and I miss her to this day. I was hooked on reptiles forever after that wonderful experience with such a magnificent snake.

My interest in animals continued, and I achieved a science degree and also became a certified lab animal technologist. My training and education led me into the direction of biomedical research, which has been my vocation all of my working life. The gecko thing was just a natural progression from there. I have always been fascinated with geckos, and the incredible explosion in leopard gecko morphs was very intriguing to me. I studied the work of Ron Tremper, read book after book, networked with many great folks in the field, and before I knew it, I was hooked on leos!

Carol and I jumped in with all four feet and decided to try to raise some of our own leos. We decided to invest in high quality leos, and began to research into who had the best of the morphs we were into, like the tangerines, sunglows, lavenders, and giants. We started to build a collection of beautiful leos, and thanks to Ron Tremper, Garrick DeMeyer, Jeff Galewood, Jason Haygood, Albey Scholl, and others in the business, we put together what we felt was a pretty impressive collection. It just seemed like the right thing to do for us to share the offspring of these beautiful animals with others, and thus, Designer Geckos was formed. Brittney Gougeon of Reptile Creative worked hard with us to put together a respectable website, and things just kind of took off from there.

CHRIS: How important is it to have a wife that not only tolerates this passion of ours but also embraces it fully?

RAY: Great question. I am always amazed at how tolerant Carol is of all this! I think the reason she never complains about me spending many hundreds of dollars on a gecko, or wanting to fly off somewhere for a reptile show, is because she is as into as I am. She loves leopard geckos, and has the same zeal as I do for the hobby. I see it in her eyes when she’s holding a gecko and softly talking to it like mothers do. She has great compassion and love for all animals. When it came to expanding to a store, many wives might have drawn the line. Instead, Carol drew a map….to our new store. We discuss all decisions on the business, and we have a great synergy and balance. We always said that we’d do well if we ever worked together on a business, so maybe this is the one!

CHRIS: How do your and Carol’s roles differ in terms of running the company?

RAY: While I have a lot of animal background, Carol complements that with a tremendous amount of experience in sales, marketing, and customer service. She knows how to market a business, how to provide great customer service, and she also has that intuitive ability to know what works, what doesn’t, and what turns to take at the right times. My role is more in the organizational and financial aspects, the legalities that come with running a business, and the hands on animal care functions. I select the leos we will buy, then bounce my decisions off Carol before we pull the trigger. We almost always agree on our gecko choices, so it all flows very easily for us.

CHRIS: I noticed that you have a unique and admirable policy towards police officers, firefighters, veterans, and people in the military, what prompted you to conduct this policy?

RAY: Carol and I are very patriotic people, and we deeply appreciate the sacrifice of those who preserve and protect us 24/7. We offer a discount to those folks to show our appreciation for what they do, day in and day out. So it’s just our way to say thank you to them for putting their lives on the line for the rest of us, and to show them how much their service means to us. I recently spoke to someone I knew who was just called up to serve in Afghanistan. He loves our geckos but couldn’t get one because he knew he’d be leaving. I told him when he left, that when he returned we were going to give him a top notch gecko as a gift. He gave me a bear hug that almost broke my ribs….but that’s how much this all means to us. They are all our heroes, and we want them to know that.

CHRIS: Do you keep any other pets? If so, what is it about Leopard Gecko’s that has got you so focused on them?

RAY: Living in the foothills of Colorado, we are surrounded by animals of all kinds. Snakes, lizards, dogs, cats, horses, bears, lions, bobcats, you name it, we’ve got em! Carol and I have two beautiful Paint horses, mother and daughter. They are awesome animals and we have great times with them. The leopard geckos are amazing reptiles in so many ways. They are gorgeous creatures, simple and yet complex, very intelligent, love people, enjoy television (especially sports and American Idol!), and each one has such an incredibly unique and wonderful little personality. We love all the different morphs, and we’re greatly intrigued by the genetic complexities. We have a great appreciation for their purity and child-like innocence. They are uncorrupted by the woes of society, politics, economy, and all the ills us humans need to deal with. They show pure unconditional love, and they bond to us humans in a very special, wonderful way. The more time you spend with them, the more you realize how truly amazing leos really are.

CHRIS: Okay, now let’s jump into the main focus of this article, can you tell us what spurred the idea of a store catering exclusively to geckos?

RAY: We were running out of room and we had many breeding projects we wanted to work on. In addition to our own animals, we also carefully select premium leos from other breeders as juveniles, raise them up, and sell them as mature, socialized geckos. So, we needed room. We thought of office space in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado, but we were really lucky to have found a building available close to our home in Hygiene. It is an awesome all brick building, well-insulated and sound proofed, with central heating and air conditioning. So the fit was perfect for what we needed and we went for it. While there are stores that have a few geckos, there were none that had the amazing morphs that we loved, and none that knew how to properly care for geckos. We saw a real need in the community for a store that had expertise in geckos, and one that was interested in the education and humane care aspects that we were so adamant about.

CHRIS: What vision do you have for the store?

RAY: The store is really an ideal layout for a gecko operation. It has a great office area, which we are in the process of setting up as a boutique theme, with a couch, coffee table, TV, fridge stocked with cold drinks, a nice desk set up, and all in all, just a really homey, comfortable atmosphere. We want folks to be able to relax and talk about leos, and feel like they are in their living room talking to friends. As I said, this is not about money, this is about having fun, appreciating leos, and sharing our passion. The store also has a nice staging area, where we have set up incubators, a picture studio setup, shipping area, and an examining area for health monitoring. In addition, it has a great production room that can hold several racks, a store room, rest room, and beautiful mountain scenery right outside the door. It really is a perfect facility for a small gecko operation. Behind it is a large building that we may consider using down the road for gecko shows, seminars, conventions, etc. if demand is there for such a thing.

We are very fortunate to have a highly skilled reptile veterinarian that helps us immensely, and is 100% committed to our gecko venture. We also have a wonderful certified vet technician that works with us, which allows us to take breaks, go on vacations, and catch our breath. She is as into this project as we are, and we couldn’t do it all without her. So we have surrounded ourselves with great people, and great consultants like Ron , Garrick, and others who have provided enormous help as we learn and move forward with our gecko endeavor.

Across the road from the store is a really cool diner, as well as country stores, a post office, gas station, and even the local fire hall. It’s a wonderful little town that hearkens back to the good old days when life was simple and care-free. Hygiene is a magical little town near Boulder and Denver where people used to come to for many years to be healed from awful illnesses like tuberculosis. It is supposed to have some magical, mystical energy, and people swear that there’s something to all that. What better place to raise leopard geckos?!

CHRIS: Right now the store is set for “appointment only”. Do you have plans to open it to the public and if so, when?

RAY: It will take us some time yet to be fully operational. We have racks on order, and geckos to mate. But it is all coming together very nicely, and we hope to have it fully operational by late Spring. We will also continue to sell leos on our website, but some folks might find it nice to be able to come to the store to hand-select the animals they want. Pics don’t always tell the full picture of an animal, so we feel this might be an idea that might appeal to some. We are hopeful that people living in the Front Range area of Colorado will find out about us too. From the initial reactions we’ve gotten from the government planning boards and others we’ve spoken to, we are optimistic, despite the very difficult economy we are in.

CHRIS: What kind of experience can we expect walking into the Designer Geckos store?

RAY: I think the first thing people will feel, is relaxed. This will never be a high pressure sales operation. We want people to feel good, and to come in and enjoy their time there. We obviously cannot disturb each and every gecko for every customer, so we will encourage customers to first view our website so they have an idea of what we have, then we can show them individual animals based on their specific interests and morphs they are looking for. They can sit on the couch, have a drink, see the horses grazing across the road, and relax as we bring out a few geckos for them to check out. Then they can take one home, or just think about it and maybe get back to us. Our prices will be reasonable, and our gecko quality among the best in the field. No obligations, no pressures. That’s what the store will be all about.

CHRIS: Do you have plans on venturing into other types of Geckos or will the store be focused exclusively on Leopard Geckos?

RAY: Well, for the time being we will specialize in leopard geckos. But we are very interested in cresties and fat tails, so we may branch out depending on how things go. We never want to get too big. We want to concentrate on specific leo morphs. We will also work closely with other affiliated breeders to encourage customers to check out their animals too. We are big on referrals, and feel that this is a brotherhood of sorts. There is plenty of room for all of us. So many morphs, so little time…. The main thing is that we spread around the joy of these wonderful little creatures and have some fun!

For now, American Idol’s about to start, and one of my big tangerine males is ready for some couch time! Thanks all for your interest. We look forward to seeing some of you down the road….in our little town of Hygiene. Come on out and get some gecko energy!

It has truly been a pleasure conducting this interview with Ray and I am definitely going to stop by and check the place out when i’m in the area. I am really excited and I can definitely see the concept of a store catering exclusively to geckos succeeding! Please support Ray’s efforts, check out his website at www.designergeckos.com . This article will be the first part of a continuing series as we follow Ray and Carol in this exciting new venture!