Rat snakes impersonate rattlesnakes frequently as a means of self defense. They even change their heads to diamond shapes and hiss to sound like rattles. They’ve scared me more than once.
Lord, have mercy, what you got to watch out for is HOOPSNAKES! They will twist around and grab their tail in their mouth, and roll down the hill at 60 mph, AND EAT YOU!
I see Rat Snakes almost daily, they don’t “impersonate” anything. I just pick them up and move them out of the way.
If you really persist, and aggravate a Rat Snake enough to bite you, it may die. Their teeth are fragile, biting you may cause a fatal mouth infection. Rat Snakes can live for 25 years, and they are no way totally stupid.
I don’t want to pick on you, but if you’re gonna get scared find something really scary!
Last thing to scare me was a Yankee girl from Atlantic City, pretty little critter, almost fooled me!