Natural History of Cottonmouth Moccasin, Agkistrodon piscovorus (Reptilia)Burkett, Ray D.
Science
Natural History of Cottonmouth Moccasin, Agkistrodon piscovorus (Reptilia)
Burkett, Ray D.
Agkistrodon piscivorus; Snakes
Wolff and Githens (1939b:234) made 16 venom extractions from a group of
cottonmouths in a two-year period. The average yield per snake
fluctuated between 80 and 237 milligrams (actual weight), and toxicity
measured as the minimum lethal dose for pigeons varied from 0.05 to 0.16
milligrams (dry weight). No decrease in yield or toxicity was evident
during this period. Another group of cottonmouths from which venom was
extracted over a period of five years also showed no decrease in yield
or toxicity. Of 315 individual extractions the average amount obtained
from each individual was 0.55 cubic centimeters of liquid or 0.158 grams
of dried venom (28.0 per cent solids). The minimum lethal dosage (M. L.
D.) which was determined by injecting intravenously into 350-gram
pigeons was found to be 0.09 milligrams (dry weight). Each snake carried
approximately 1755 M. L. D.'s of venom.
The record venom extraction for the cottonmouth was 4.0 cubic
centimeters (1.094 grams dried venom) taken from a five-foot snake which
had been in captivity for 11 weeks and milked five weeks earlier (Wolff
and Githens, 1939a:52). The average yield of venom of cottonmouths is
about three times the average yield reported for copperheads by Fitch
(1960:256), a difference correlated with the greater bulk and relatively
large head of the cottonmouth.
Allen and Swindell (1948:13) stated that cottonmouth venom rates third
in potency, compared drop for drop to that of _Micrurus fulvius_ and
_Crotalus adamanteus_. Freshly dried cottonmouth venom tested on young
white rats showed the lethal dose to be from 23 to 29 milligrams per
kilogram of body weight. The venom of 11 one-week-old cottonmouths was
found to be more potent than that of adult males. Githens (1935:171)
rated _C. adamanteus_ venom as being weaker than that of the copperhead
(_A. contortrix_), which he rated only slightly lower than cottonmouth
venom. The crotalids which he ranked more toxic than cottonmouths are:
the Pacific rattlesnake (_C. viridis oreganus_) and the massasauga (_S.
catenatus_). He found _A. bilineatus_, _C. durissus_, and _C. v.
lutosus_ to have the same toxicity as cottonmouths. Minton (1953:214)
found that the intraperitoneal "lethal dose 50" (the dose capable of
killing half the experimental mice receiving injections of it) was 6.36
milligrams per kilogram for copperheads. However, in later publications
Minton (1954:1079; 1956:146) reported that the "lethal dose 50" for
copperheads was 25.65 milligrams. Approximately the same potency was
determined for cottonmouths. Several rattlesnakes that he tested showed
a higher toxicity than copperheads or cottonmouths.
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