I lived in central Fla and worked with easterns there. They lived mostly in pine sandy areas and also were in the ground most of the time, but not to the extent westerns/Mexicans are.

One thing when observing nature, is to understand context. In your case, what are the hogs doing when on the surface? If you break down elements of their lives, It make its a bit easier to understand what you seeing.

Are they actively breeding on the surface? Actively feeding? etc. and if not on the surface, where? For instance, pairing and breeding. Each and every healthy adult female must do both. And in Fla, that's tens of thousands of female hogs. Yet, pairing and copulation is a rare observation. Feeding, is an ongoing event that occurs by the millions, yet that too is rarely observed. See what I mean, even shedding, every single snake does that several times a year, but how often is it observed, and how often are sheds seen on the surface?

So when thinking about what snakes do, particularly in nature, you may want to make a list of what behaviors they have to do to exist, then see if any of the animals observed are doing any of these things. In most cases, folks act as if the snakes are doing nothing and pick them up, which disturbs any normal behavior. Try following some. Often times it leads to another hog. Best wishes and just something to think about.

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