Anchor: Call the exterminator we are scorpion hunting and sharing ways to try to protect yourself from getting stung. Well, it is that time of year these guys, scorpions are out across the valley and hundreds of people are getting stung. This morning we have ways you can protect yourself. Jen Wall is out live, hunting for scorpions. Good morning Jen.
Jen Wall: Good morning to you Matt. yeah we’ve been out here since about 4:30. We are with Ben Holland of Scorpion Sweepers. You said you came out here about 4 am, we’re on McClintock and Guadalupe. How many did you find in a matter of two minutes?
Ben Holland: I just went down one of the alleys here and I saw about six, just a hundred feet in.
Jen Wall: So crazy to me. So you said once it warms up though we see a ton more in this area. We’ll go ahead and dim the lights and show you a couple that we do have right here in this little carrier. These are Arizona Bark Scorpions and what are some of the hot spots in the valley where we can find a lot of these?
Ben Holland: So anything by a mountain, butte, canal, anything like that. Paradise Valley, North Scottsdale, Gilbert are where we are really busy.
Jen Wall: And that’s where a lot of homes are as well. As the sun comes up this morning you said you know these guys start to slow down and go to sleep. So we are keeping them up past their bedtime for live shot purposes. And where are some places in your neighborhood, in your backyard, maybe front yard you can find scorpions and maybe get rid of some of the habitats?
Ben Holland: The number one spot are the concrete block walls that separate people’s lots. We have a service where we will seal those up. Other places are leaf litter, piles of wood, roof tiles, and palm trees.
Jen Wall: Alright, I know Ben goes around and actually hand picks these out of your yard for you. It’s a special service that he has. And we’ll talk more about that coming up later on in the show. But for now, we are going to go ahead and send it back to the studio. For you Matt and Tram we’ll keep it on those scorpions. Lovely shot, early on a Thursday morning.
Female Anchor: Awe, do you have to do that Jen?
Male Anchor: As long as they stay inside that little cage there.
Jen Wall: We gotta really give everybody a feel of what we are experiencing here.
Male Anchor: No doubt about that, thank you Jen.
On March 10th, of 2016 our Founder, Ben Holland was interviewed by Jen Wall a reporter for NBC 12 KPNX’s morning news. They were discussing the early arrival of scorpions, where in the valley they are found and how to prevent them on your own. Throughout the morning Ben was featured in four segments between 4:30-7am.
This was the third of four segments Ben did that morning. After showing the scorpions the reporter Jen Wall asked some great questions about scorpions here in the valley. They discussed that Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, and Gilbert were the biggest hot spots for scorpions in the Phoenix area. Then they talked about habitats for scorpions like the property walls that seporate lots in Phoenix, Ben then touched up our service Property Wall Sealing.
This was a long morning for our Founder, Ben Holland. He got down to Tempe around 3:45 am to prepare. Due to the time of the shoot he wanted to make sure he collected some scorpions prior to starting. The first segment was scheduled for 4:30 am just about when the scorpions start going into their habitats and resting for the day.
We were lucky enough to be in four different segments during the morning news. The NBC 12 News servers were down so all the premade segments were unavailable, allowing them to only use live shots.
The news crew consisting of reporter Jen Wall and a single cameraman used one of their vans with a huge retractable antenna to broadcast live. In between segments Jen Wall would work in the van cutting up each segment for the website.
