David Marin sent us this close-up photo of a four-foot blue racer snake in Nelson Township.

“Snakes are at their most visible now because it’s their mating season,” said Marin.

Racers inhabit a variety of places, including open woods, meadows, hedgerows, marshes, and weedy lake edges. Adults are grayish or blue, with a darker head, and white chin and chest. They grow four to six feet. Young racers are grayish with darker splotches.

They eat bugs and worms when they’re small and frogs, toads, mice, rats, and other rodents when they grow up.

“No snakes should be harassed or harmed; they serve an important partnership with farmers and gardeners as well as all the rest of us,” noted Marin.

Although they will bite if cornered or grabbed, racers are not venomous.

If you have wildlife photos you’d like to send us, email them to postnews@charter.net