Rats were commonly found in the trenches. There were many different types of rats including brown and black ones. In the trenches, soldiers despised these rats. They attempted to kill them through gun fire, bayonets and even clubbing them. Despite their efforts, it was very hard to eliminate the population of rats in the trenches because they were able to produce offsprings quickly. Lice was another problem that the soldiers encountered in the trenches. Even though they often received new uniforms, lice stayed hidden in the seams and did not vanish. However, this organisms were not the biggest of the soldiers problems. Trench fever and Trench foot were also commonly found. Trench fever was caused by lice and started with extreme pain and then lead to a fever. This disease took 12 long weeks of recovery time. Trench foot was caused by the cold and poor conditions in the trenches. Often times soldiers needed their feet amputated in order to recover from this disease.