Maternal care is a crucial aspect of mammalian behavior. Mothers detect signals from their pups, perform specific behaviors essential to their care (nest preparation, nursing, keeping pups warm), and remain motivated to care for them despite danger or fear. These behaviors are well documented in mothers but are also observed in nulliparous rodents, though with notable differences in expression and initiation compared to experienced mothers. This study concentrates on maternal motivation and explores the distinct neuronal mechanisms impacted in dams and nulliparous females. Initially, our findings reveal that nulliparous females can retrieve pups within a familiar setting, yet only dams demonstrate this behavior under anxiety-inducing conditions. We hypothesized that differences in retrieval motivation between nulliparous and dams may be attributed to differences in neuromodulation signaling in the Nucleus accumbens (NAc). To investigate this hypothesis further, we conducted recordings of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin dynamics within the NAc of both dams and nulliparous females, providing insights into the neuronal mechanisms of maternal-motivated behavior.