Fine-scale hormonal patterns associated with birth and maternal care in the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), a North American pitviper snake

• We examined the effect of neonate presence on maternal steroid hormones in a pitviper.
• Maternal corticosterone spiked on the day that neonates completed their first shed.
• This spike was not observed in mothers that had neonates removed at birth.
• In free-ranging pitvipers, maternal attendance of young terminates once neonates shed.
• Corticosterone might mediate the termination of parental behavior in pitvipers.

Steroid hormones regulate many aspects of reproductive physiology and behavior, including parental care. Reptiles display a variety of egg- and neonate-directed parental behaviors, yet few studies have addressed their endocrine correlates. Viviparous female pitvipers remain at the birth site with their young for one to two weeks until neonates complete their first shed cycle (‘ecdysis’). To study possible relationships between steroid hormones and these behaviors, we conducted a captive study on wild-caught pregnant cottonmouths. Females were divided into two treatment groups: Maternal Attendance (MA) – females were allowed a maternal attendance period, where neonates were left with the mother until they completed ecdysis and then were removed; Separated (SE) – females had their neonates removed within 24 h of birth. Serial blood samples were collected from MA females at various points during and after attendance; SE females had samples collected on a similar temporal schedule. Plasma levels of progesterone (P), estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and corticosterone (CORT) were measured in all samples. We did not find a difference in the overall pattern of P, E2, or T between MA and SE females; however, MA females exhibited a significant peak in CORT on the day that neonates shed that was not observed in SE females. It is possible that the elevated CORT observed in MA females was stimulated by increased activity and/or changing chemical cues of shedding neonates. Based on evidence that free-ranging pitvipers cease MA when all offspring complete ecdysis, we hypothesize that CORT has a role in signaling mothers to terminate care and disperse.