Designer Geckos

HYGIENE – When 7-year-old Josh Bay wanted a pet, it posed a problem. With allergies in the family, and a travel schedule that made dog and cat ownership impossible, parents Jim and Liz Bay turned to the Internet for help.

That’s where they discovered the joys of owning a gecko.

 “We stumbled on Ray Rehner’s Web site and thought, wow, how pretty they were,” Jim Bay recalled.

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After paying a visit to gecko entrepreneurs Ray and Carol Rehner, the Bay family came home with a little white-and-yellow, leopard-spotted female gecko named Snowy.

“It’s surprising how much fun these little guys are,” Bay said of Snowy, who rides around all day on Josh’s shoulder, licks his face and sits in his lap watching TV.

Gecko TV?

“They love it,” Ray Rehner said. “Especially ‘American Idol’ – they sit on the sofa with me and watch it every night. They love the lights and the music.”

Whether or not it has to do with the popularity of the Geico gecko selling insurance in TV commercials, leopard geckos are fast becoming popular pets. Since they’re bred in captivity as pets, they’re not considered an exotic animal and can be raised with no ownership restrictions.

The Rehners hope to capitalize on this growing trend. They founded Designer Geckos in 2009 with an online store and have since opened a retail store.

Designer Geckos has sold 100 geckos through its Web site. Encouraged by this success, Ray and his wife, Carol, opened a 700-square-foot Designer Gecko storefront in Hygiene, west of Longmont.

Rehner’s fascination with leopard geckos has also led him to acquire one of the country’s finest collections. He owns 25 of the critters, in colors ranging from vivid sunset orange to lavender.

“I love these animals – they have such personalities,´ said Rehner, a certified laboratory animal technologist with veterinary training. “They get to know their owner’s voice and touch, and they bond with them. They’re very intelligent and even come when you call them. And they’ll sit on your lap and watch TV – it’s an amazing thing to see.”

With strong business backgrounds – Carol is director of a high-tech aviation equipment company and Ray works for a biotech firm – the couple first brought a solid business plan to the Boulder County Planning Commission before starting their online venture last year.

“They were really enthusiastic – not only for our Web site, but also about our philosophy for the animals and the business,” Rehner said. 

The planning commission was also impressed by Rehner’s determination to not get into debt. So far, the Rehners have financed the entire venture themselves, without taking any type of business loan.

“We didn’t want the financial stress of getting buried in a lot of credit,” Rehner said. “It makes you lose sight of why you started the business in the first place.”

While it’s still too early to predict revenue, Rehner said the geckos he’s invested in for breeding cost from $200 to $1,000.

“We’re not going to price them according to what we paid; for instance, if we breed one of our $1,000 geckos, we’ll sell the babies for just $200 or $300 apiece,” he said. “Typically, our geckos sell for $50 to $300. We want to offer fair and reasonable prices so that everyone can enjoy this hobby.”

The Rehner’s latest acquisition is T Rex, the first baby from the world’s largest gecko named Godzilla. It’s a one-of-a-kind specimen – like the business itself. To the best of Rehner’s knowledge, Designer Geckos is the only leopard gecko store in the world.

“People in the leopard gecko trade are watching us – we’re really pioneers,” he said.

The couple has already been approached with the idea of starting a Designer Gecko franchise – an idea that, Rehner admits, has a huge appeal. But for now, the Rehners are gratified that Designer Geckos is fulfilling their primary mission of raising public awareness about leopard geckos.

“We want to be a profitable business, but hearing people say, ‘Thank-you, we love our gecko,’ means more to us than dollars and cents,” he said. “We want people to enjoy these little creatures as much as we do.”