Swamp People: Serpent Invasion - Who is Pickle Wheat?
Pickle Wheat certainly knows how to catch a python. What else do you know about the star of Sky HISTORY reality series Swamp People: Serpent Invasion?
Image: Swamp People: Serpent Invasion
The Burmese python has long made itself at home in the Florida Everglades, but certainly isn’t native to the area. That’s a big problem, too, as the Burmese python is a fearsome predator with few predators of its own in the Sunshine State.
As a result, it has wiped out entire species once inhabiting the Everglades in abundance. In recent years, there has been a concerted long-term effort to extirpate Burmese pythons from the area.
The Sky HISTORY series Swamp People: Serpent Invasion follows a team of experienced hunters as they strive to do their bit for the campaign. One of the show’s big stars is Pickle Wheat, whose youthful exuberance is a tonic for regular viewers.
The early life of Cheyenne 'Pickle' Wheat
Pickle is a cool name, but she wasn’t born with it. Her real name is Cheyenne Nicole Wheat. She was born on 21st September 1995 in Poydras, Louisiana, where her parents Eddie and Missie Wheat brought her up with her brother James.
'My nickname came from my daddy,' Pickle told Louisiana Sportsman in February 2021. 'My middle name is Nicole and when you say "Cheyenne Nicole" enough it starts to sound like "shiny pickle". I got obsessed with pickles from a young age.'
Many earlier generations of Pickle’s family embraced the hunting lifestyle. Her great-grandfather was one of the St Bernard Parish area’s earliest alligator hunters, and his specialist knowledge was passed down to later generations.
How did Pickle join the Swamp People team?
As a child, Pickle accompanied her father and brother on hunting trips. This experience came in handy in her twenties, when she joined the Sky HISTORY series Swamp People for its 12th season in 2021.
The show follows alligator hunters as they go about their day-to-day activities in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin. By then, Swamp People had already been running since 2010, but Pickle quickly became popular with the fans.
So, along with Swamp People mainstay Troy Landry, she was a natural choice to star in the spin-off Serpent Invasion, which began airing in 2020. Many viewers have now enjoyed watching her courageously snatching pythons, with the reliable Troy often on hand to help her safely bag those pesky reptiles.
Pickle Wheat’s best on-screen moments
Thanks to her high level of activity on social media, Pickle has formed a strong bond with the Swamp People fanbase. If you follow her Facebook and Instagram pages, you might already have seen her showing off her merchandise and sharing photos of her kids!
With her husband Joshua Kippes, Pickle has two children — daughter Maemi, born in April 2023, and son Kacey, who arrived in April 2025.
However, even the inevitable pressures of motherhood have not prevented Pickle from getting really stuck into the frenetic action on Swamp People: Serpent Invasion. Here are some of her most memorable moments so far…
Calling Detective Pickle…
In the third season’s 14th episode, Troy and Pickle visit a citrus grove on the outskirts of the Everglades. There, they hear from the farm’s owner Mr Bobby that pythons have been encroaching on the land, causing havoc for the farmers.
Pickle discerns that the nuisance snakes are lurking in a 'thick wall of jungle' on the other side of a drainage canal lining an orange grove. After finding a snake habitat, Pickle gets to demonstrate her detective skills.
On screen, she describes the area as 'absolutely perfect' for snakes, adding that no human has evidently touched it for years. Her instincts here turn out to be correct, as it isn’t long before she comes across a curious-looking blue python she ensnares with Troy’s help.
Pickle overcomes a phobia
To speed up their hunt for pythons in the fifth season’s second episode, Troy decides that he and Pickle should take a helicopter flight across the Everglades.
It’s not a prospect Pickle is initially happy with. Nonetheless, after the aircraft’s pilot Cody Fortier reveals he has flown it for 6,000 hours overall and never crashed it, Pickle reluctantly concedes defeat.
Image: Swamp People: Serpent Invasion
Cody subsequently flies Pickle and Troy to a jungle area feasibly harbouring further pythons. Ultimately, the intrepid duo only find and capture one snake there before Pickle summons Cody again. From his airborne helicopter, he spots Pickle’s smoke signals, helping him to pinpoint her and Troy’s location.
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