The Exterminator, powered by Orkin, has teamed up with Degiorgio Vassallo Ventures in a new collaboration which promises to deliver better connected services to their customers, both on a domestic and a commercial level. Degiorgio Vassallo Ventures seeks to support The Exterminator in their endeavour to grow sustainably by providing leadership experience in their area of specialisation. Pest-control is much more than keeping cockroach infestations at bay. In fact, very often, the worst types of infestations barely even appear as such to the public.

An example is when non-native creatures like ducks are introduced into habitats that are not naturally their own, such as water ways and valleys – these risk becoming pests. In fact, the alien birds, often intrude into the location’s food-chain, becoming predators of other indigenous species, wreaking havoc on the natural delicate balance that would exist. “Ducks unfortunately feed on endemic animals like frogs and others that do not stand a chance of survival against them,” Arnold Sciberras, Technical Director at The Exterminator explains. “In fact, the misconception of the charms of a non-native species is not uncommon, and we are often called to bring some kind of balance to certain environments which would be at risk of having serious issues of biodiversity.”

The problem is not just ornithological. A species of crayfish which was introduced from America as well as the infamous Asian Tiger Mosquito, which was brought over from Africa, are also threatening to cause untold damage within their specific biospheres, as they risk taking the upper hand. Arnold, together with his team takes an academic approach to bringing balance to these microcosms, as The Exterminator goes beyond operating an efficient pest-control service.

“For us pest-control goes beyond barging somewhere and applying our insecticides. It is first and foremost about providing the necessary peace of mind to our customers. This results from a series of elements which we take very seriously, chief amongst them is our ongoing collaboration with Orkin, an industry leader with more than 120 years’ experience in the business.”

In fact, being the local sole franchisees for Orkin, The Exterminator operates larger projects and commitments through the international brand.

“Through our collaboration with Orkin, we are able to meet higher expectations and venture into larger scale projects which might be more ambitious and more demanding. Servicing certain companies, and sectors in general, requires specialised expertise, which The Exterminator is confident to possess, as it plugs into the international network of pest-control specialists from around the globe through Orkin.”

Indeed, technicians at The Exterminator receive their formal training through Orkin which offers a new dimension and perspective to their job. Dr Ron Harrison, Director of Technical Services at Orkin, and quite the rockstar in the field, visits Malta on a regular basis to deliver training sessions, and address high profile conferences, sometimes together with Arnold.

“Dr Harrison holds a Ph.D. in entomology, and is an acknowledged leader in the field of pest management with more than 30 years’ experience. Collaborating with him is a great satisfaction for us, as it allows us to provide a superior quality service to our clients,” Arnold continues.

Last November, together with Dr Harrison, Arnold in fact addressed a very well attended seminar which focused on bed bugs and their behaviours. “With bed bugs becoming the hot topic across Europe, it was only natural for us to organise an event that would shed some light on these creatures, which unfortunately were giving people some serious headaches. The showstopper came towards the end of the conference, when Dr Harrison produced a vile of live bedbugs which he promptly placed on my forearm, in an unprecedented and close-up display of what the critters look like, how they move and most interestingly how they feed.”

Arnold’s journey often takes him to even more unexpected places, where he needs to be quite creative in his approach.

“Unfortunately, while ducks are pests which people think are cute, often the opposite of the coin is also true. Often, we are met with clients who ask us to rid them of creatures which are not pests at all, and who actually play a crucial role in their eco-systems, such as geckos and lizards. Such crawlers, though they might not have the most welcoming of looks, feed on pests themselves, so technically they are nature’s original pest-control specialists. Sadly, some people have phobias for such animals, about which very little can be done. The good news is that we developed a natural way of helping such clients.”

Arnold has developed a natural solution that repels geckos and lizards away, without killing them. This means that they retain their place in the eco-system, while the clients are happy to be rid of them.

“Once again, our collaboration with Orkin is proving to be extremely useful in this regard as well. In fact, we are looking at developing this solution further, as we re looking at proposing it for industrial environments where the presence of such creatures is a real threat.”

The Exterminator’s knowledge-driven approach is also resulting in a publicly available library of Malta-generated academic papers which Arnold together with his colleagues are publishing on the subject of pest-control, contributing directly to the research and development of the field.

And the results are showing, and are extremely encouraging. In fact, The Exterminator is reportedly Malta’s foremost pest-control specialist company, and has been best-reviewed online in the past three years.

“We are extremely happy to note that The Exterminator has received glowing reviews on google and Facebook ranking it to the top of its area of operation,” notes Luke Degiorgio, Operations Manager at Degiorgio Vassallo Ventures. “We are very satisfied to partner with The Exterminator who bring with them an unrivalled wealth of knowledge in the field, prompting our project to become undisputed leaders in the area,” he continues.

Degiorgio Vassallo Ventures is a group of companies which operates in the services sector, focusing predominantly on providing solutions for disinfection, pest control, cleaning, and home automation. Their collaboration with The Exterminator takes a supporting role, as they seek to provide the experience needed to achieve leadership in local and international markets for sustainable growth.

“As part of our continuous drive for investment in our collaboration, in the coming months we shall be launching a first-of-its-kind mobile app that will allow businesses and clients alike to book their consultations and services with The Exterminator in an easy and seamless manner. Moreover, clients will be able to check their bookings and even know when the technician is on the way, through geo-mapping technology,” Luke concludes.