Identification Help: snake in KY

[sekaiNdobes]

Hi all,

A friend of mine was surprised by this guy - she was mowing her lawn and narrowly missed this snake:



She said it was "pretty big", and it wasn't really afraid of her - didn't try to get away, just sat there and watched her... then moseyed on off after awhile.

She lives in Kentucky.

Any ideas on what kind of snake this is?

[jdmls88]

Looks like a southern black racer to me. Do you have any clearer pictures?

[DutchHerp]

Looks like a rat snake, too.

[SerpentesCiconii]

Prairie king snake.

[jdmls88]

Ohh prairie king good poss.

[sekaiNdobes]

Nope, unfortunately no clearer photos. That's all she sent me.

We were thinking black racer... but the head shape has me doubting it. That, and I've never seen a black racer (or a prairie king) that's silvery brown, with only faint stripes running along the body.

It's a conundrum, it is!

[DutchHerp]

It's definitely a possibility.

[nixer]

its hard to tell from the small photos but it looks alot like this
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/snake_...8&option=solid

oh yea you might wanna give your friend this link so they can identify snakes
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/

[redpython]

prairie kingsnake

[hardlucktattoo]

its hard to tell from the small photos but it looks alot like this
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/snake_...8&option=solid

oh yea you might wanna give your friend this link so they can identify snakes
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/

Earth snakes don't get that big. To me it just looks like a black rat snake but then again I don't live in ky nor have I ever been there so I have no idea