Effect of ambient temperature in neonate aspic vipers: growth, locomotor performance and defensive behaviors

Abstract

The impact of temperature during incubation and gestation has been tested in various reptiles; the postnatal period has been rarely investigated however. Three groups of newborn aspic vipers (Vipera aspis) were placed under contrasted thermal regimes during 7 months: (1) a cool 23°C constant regime, (2) a warm 28°C constant regime, and (3) an optimal regime with free-access to a wide range of temperatures. Later, all the snakes were placed under hibernation conditions (6°C) during 3 months. Finally all the snakes were placed in the optimal thermal regime during 2 additional months. The total duration of the experiment was of 12 months. Body mass and feeding rates were recorded weekly, body size was measured monthly. We also assessed locomotor performance and recorded several behavioral traits (e.g., defensive and predatory behaviors). As expected, snakes raised under cool temperatures exhibited low feeding rate, growth rate, body condition, and they exhibited poor locomotor performance; they also displayed marked defensive behaviors (e.g., high number of defensive bites) whilst hesitating during longer periods to bite a prey. Such behavioral effects were detected at the end of the experiment (i.e., 5 months after exposure to contrasted thermal treatments [3 months of hibernation plus 2 months of optimal regime]), revealing long term effects. Surprisingly, growth rate and locomotor performance were not different between the two other groups, warm constant 28°C versus optimal regimes (albeit several behavioral traits differed), suggesting that the access to a wide range of ambient temperatures was not a crucial factor.