When you come upon a snake and start to back away it shouldn't chase you. These snakes were not provoked. As I stated before, I like snakes they help with the rodent population. I have one that lives in my barn by the feed room, he's my buddy. :)
My child is immune-suppressed, a "scratch" can...
I live in Texas, they bite. The majority of them will strike at you as soon as they see you around here. I have small children that are no match for a 5 foot, mean as hell rat snake.
Look up Texas rat snake behavior, mean little buggers.
We've dispatched 2 rat snakes on our property. I usually leave a non venomous snakes alone, but these 2 were very aggressive. I like snakes and I was sad to have to do it, but it was a human safety issue.