Bugs
There were many types of bugs that invaded the trenches. These included slugs, horned beetles and lice. Here we will talk about lice. Lice were called cooties by the soldiers. They caused itching and trench fever- a very contagious disease. The only way to get rid of these 'cooties' was by burning them with a match...which could lead to a soldiers uniform catching on fire. Of course, soldiers tried to get rid of them by simply washing the uniform, but that only got rid of the lice... not the eggs. And once you put your uniform back on, your body heat caused the eggs to hatch, starting the cycle all over again.
Rodents
The rodent that caused the most problems was the rats. There were two types of rats: the black rat and the brown rat. Out of these two, the brown rat was the worst. They ate the liver and eyes of dead men! Plus, one female brown rat could give birth to 900 babies a year! Soldiers probably hated them. Well, except for when they were eating them! That's right, soldiers sometimes ate the rats! To find out more about soldiers go to the soldiers tab.