"The flies were a little later perhaps in coming, with the cold weather we had in Auckland. But once they hit, they hit with a vengeance."
Ms Mackie said recent trends indicated pest-related callouts were increasing in late summer. "It's still warm in March, compared to years ago, so things have changed."
De Bug was receiving many rodent-related call-outs. The animals were equal-opportunity pests. "Rats don't seem to look at whether it's a rich house or poor house."
Dr John Early, Auckland Museum entomologist, said summer was boom time for most insect populations.
"I'm certainly noticing at home that house flies are on a huge increase but this happens every year."
The house flies were adaptable, bred in decaying plant matter and enjoyed the company of animal faeces and household scraps.
Dr Early said the invasive Asian paper wasp was also prevalent in Auckland "making nests everywhere". The wasp was the bete noire of many butterfly appreciators and gardeners, preying on monarch caterpillars.
The invader was not a threat to native wasp species but Dr Early said its appetite undermined native insectivorous birds after the same food.
Hungry flea larvae had been lurking in houses, living off whatever disgusting detritus was available. But on maturing to adulthood, their diet changed and they faced famine.
"Because the people are away, there's nothing for them to eat."
That changed when humans returned from holiday and found the desperate fleas "gagging for them".
He said ants did not seem so widespread, and he saw a bigger ant presence in spring and autumn.
But new queen and male ants were seen emerging throughout the Auckland region in recent weeks. "They were swarming around like crazy. I noticed several males trying to mate with the same female."
Meanwhile, a seemingly unstoppable onslaught of Argentine ants was plaguing a Taranaki town.
Patea Community Board member Ruth MacKay told the Wanganui Chronicle the horde was immense. "It doesn't matter how many times you spray - they just keep multiplying and coming back. And we're not talking hundreds, we're talking millions."
The invasion briefly caused the town's Four Square to close.
The Department of Conservation said the heaviest beech forest seedfall in more than a decade happened last year. This was expected ignite an "explosion in the numbers of rats, mice and stoats, who will turn to our native birds for food once the seeds disappear".
For consumers who disliked the thought of killing rats and mice, some pest controllers now offered "humane" ultrasonic "rodent repellers". Others had "discreet" vans for customers who did not want their neighbours knowing they had a pest problem.
