Amending/Correcting a post of mine above.
I contacted a professional Herpetologist I know and his impression is that the snake in question IS a Prairie Kingsnake and cited his reason for it.
So in the interest of being accurate....I wanted to state that and concede that the guy with the really long name was indeed correct.
The answer I received:
"My initial impression is that it is a prairie kingsnake from looking at the pattern of blotches. There is a lot of variability in coloration and patterning in both species of snakes and that can be confusing at times. One separating difference between the rat snake and kingsnake is with the scales. Scales on the upper body of the kingsnake will be smooth, on the rat snake each scale will have a small central keel. This is a definite way to separate the snakes."[i][/i]
My reply:
Good enough, Thank You Sir.
I don't get any enjoyment from correcting people when they're wrong about an ID, and I absolutely despise arguing with folks about it. This time doesn't give me more satisfaction than last time,, or the time before that,, or the time before that.
I don't think I'm smarter or more educated than anyone here. The fact of the matter is, I identify more critters than any of y'all, and I'm constantly learning. I see a few hundred snakes a year on various foums and groups. Dozens of them are blurry pictures or videos. Dozens more are pictures of pieces of snakes that have been chopped up by a lawnmower or squished by a car. I've become proficient at using ID keys like your herpetologist friend, and I used the same data that he did (and a couple other keys) to ID that prairie king.
I'm good at snake IDs but I will always ask for a 2nd or 3rd or 4th opinion from people way smarter than me if I'm not 100% confident about an ID. Hopefully this will be the last time you have to concede when you're wrong, and give me a chance to explain why I make my ID next time, instead of telling me it's "such and such snake all day."