In my opinion, there is no real answer to this...It really depends on the location and again, in my opinion, they do not have a certain habitat they prefer. Just my opinion though. Our last house was out in the sticks with 1 dried up pond and it seemed I could go out and kill a snake anytime I wanted to. My father lived about 3 miles down the same gravel road with a pond and many outbuildings and never seems to have snakes. He also has a couple outside dogs. Do you have a dog? I have always heard that dogs will keep snakes away. Also, they sell stuff that you can put on your yard to keep such pests away. Not sure if it works though.