mostly scare them away
Cats are very helpful to have- as I found out when I moved to the country.
field mice and spiders and all kinds of un-wanted critters seem to dissappear when you get a cat.
Typically, they die........
“What do cats do to rattle snakes?”
Find them, torture them, and either kill them or drive them away.
I’ve sat and watched (on and off as I went about my business) a cat f—k with rattle snake for 8+ hours until the snake got tired & made a mistake -— and then, DEAD.
Snakes (like aligators) are “ambush preditors.”
They can’t take being messed with a long time, and eventually just give up.