Katie

Owner / Manager

Katie is the owner of KBN Reptiles and has experience working with many different animals. Studying Animal Care at Moreton Morrell College, she then moved on to working in ‘normal’ pet shops, Stratford Upon Avon Butterfly Farm and ending up in a fish and reptile shop before opening KBN in 2011. 

Animals have been at the front of her interests from a very young age with her Dad Nigel taking her on country walks, collecting butterflies, various insects and talking for hours about different animals. Then came Gary the grasshopper to start the real journey!

When she isn’t working, she enjoys watching films, reading books and snuggling up on the sofa with the dogs.

Reptile keeping is her passion and animals are her life, she has been keeping reptiles for over 20 years and working with them since 2003. She opened KBN Reptiles to educate people about the amazing world of reptiles. She has a wide range of knowledge in most areas of reptile keeping including lizards, snakes, chelonia and some invertebrates - Millipedes and Jumping spiders being firm favourites!

Ash

Assistant Manager

In 2015, Ash started regularly coming in to the shop with his family after moving from down south. In 2017, Ash asked if he could volunteer 1 day a week to gain some more experience and then became our Saturday boy while he was at college studying Science. After leaving college, he spent more time here volunteering and as his confidence grew, he decided this was the industry for him. In late 2019, he started working here full time on an apprenticeship with Moreton Morrell College finishing in early 2022.

Ash has lived with Katie since 2020 and enjoys playing World of Warcraft and spending time with the dogs when he isn’t at work. He also loves collecting Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit memorabilia.

In October 2022, he was given the opportunity to become Assistant Manager which he gladly took on. He has a real passion for snakes and has helped build and care for our breeding stock over the last few years. Ash also runs our ever growing Invertebrate section and particularly loves Tarantulas.

Nigel

Scrappy

Volunteer / Quality Control

Nigel is Katie's dad, he helps in the shop 4 days a week and can normally be found sitting next to the livefood shelves. He is quality control when it comes to our livefood stocks and maintains the high quality that we pride ourselves on, if you ever need information on how to keep your livefood alive longer, just ask him! Nigel creates the bags of substrate that make up our wide range of substrate available and also specialises in Bearded dragons.

When he is not working at KBN, he is usually busy at Leamington Football Club feeding the wildlife and tending to the pitch. He has a great love of wildlife and will happily advise anyone on food for their local hedgehogs and robins!!

Shouty Security!

Scrappy came to live with Katie and Ash in April 2024 after his previous owner was losing her house and couldn’t take him with her. As no-one was willing to take him on, things were looking bleak for him. He is originally from the meat trade and suffers with separation anxiety, so he has to come to work every day, he even has his own work uniform which he proudly wears! He is a lovely boy but does struggle with certain people… so he shouts alot!!!

He has a treat tub on the till, if you come in and want to give him one (or he will accept more), please feel free, it helps him learn people aren’t scary!

Debbie

Volunteer / Snack Provider

Debbie is Katie's mum, she helps out in the shop on Thursdays. She is responsible for feeding the animals (and most importantly, staff) and breeding the stick insects that we sell. She is usually getting shouted at by Nigel for various reasons, usually she’s dropped something!!

Chloe

Volunteer

Chloe has been a customer for many years. She has a small collection of reptiles at home including a group of leopard geckos, bearded dragon, Chameleon geckos , Mourning Geckos, and her beloved Grey banded Kingsnake Aurora (who is the light of her life!) She also helps care for her daughters corn snake and royal python.

Chloe has 3 children, her youngest Isabelle was born in April 2025 and is KBN Reptiles first baby! Isabelle does often come to help in the shop, even though she sleeps on the job a lot! When Chloe isn’t working she likes to spend time playing with her girls, dogs and playing on her PlayStation (normally with Katie and Ash)

Jess

Shop Assistant

Jess started here as a work placement from Moreton Morrell College in August 2022 and in August 2023, we employed her on a Saturday. Jess likes to read books, especially horror. She has 2 snails, lots of woodlice, a jumping spider called Gerry, a terrapin 2 cats and a dog as well. She loves all animals and is enjoying learning about the care of different species whilst doing her third year at college.

Aaron

Occasional Volunteer

In March 2017, Aaron came in to buy a Bearded Dragon from Katie. In September 2019, they got married! Aaron helps out in the shop when he isn’t working for West Midlands Ambulance service as a Paramedic. He particularly enjoys talking to people about his groups of geckos including African Fat tail geckos, West Indian leopard geckos and not forgetting his Bearded Dragon Artoria.

Chris

Occasional Volunteer

Chris is Ashs’ older brother and will usually be found helping out on the till when an extra pair of hands are needed.

Onyx

Onyx is a Collie cross who belongs to Katie and Aaron and is Poppy’s younger sister. She is a street dog from Romania and joined the family in late 2018 from LoveUnderdogs. She was hit by a car while living on the streets but thankfully fully recovered. She can have bad anxiety some days but Poppy has really helped her confidence with speaking to new people.

Hilda

Hilda is a Golden Retriever cross who belongs to Ash. Hilda and Ash live with Katie, Aaron, Poppy and Onyx. Hilda, like Onyx, is a Street dog from Romania who went to live with a family in London, whilst she was in London, she escaped from her family and was living in a rubbish tip for 4 months by herself. She was Hit by a car in those 4 months but has recovered since. Hilda came to join the family in 2021 from LoveUnderdogs. She can be very shy and has bad anxiety and trust issues when meeting new people but Poppy and Onyx are helping her with her confidence and she is becoming a lovely yellow dog!

In Memory of Poppy

Poppy was our beautiful Staffordshire Bull Terrier, belonging to Katie and Aaron, and she truly was the heart of our family. We rescued her from Dogs Trust in early 2018, and from that moment on, she helped shape our lives in ways we’ll always be grateful for.

She was a bundle of energy with a huge personality. If you met her in the shop, you’ll probably remember her “shouting” at you until she had your full attention — and of course, demanding plenty of fuss! At home, she was the complete opposite, usually found tucked up under a snuggly blanket, happy and content.

Poppy brought so much joy not only to us, but to so many of our customers and friends. She had a way of making people smile instantly and left a lasting impression on everyone she met.

In February 2026, we unfortunately lost her to cancer. Losing her has left a space that can never truly be filled, but we feel incredibly lucky to have had her as part of our lives and our journey.

Thank you to everyone who loved her — she really was one of a kind.