Green Bush Rat vs Rough Green snake?

[Mrr]

So I've been posting quite a bit lately with questions regarding my ball pythons and their set ups, but now I'm here with a new question!

I've always had a thing for green snakes.. I'd ideally love to get myself a green African house snake, but those are hard to come by and quite expensive (future dream). So I've narrowed it down to either a Green bush rat snake, or a Rough Green snake.

Can anyone tell me about their experiences with either of these species? I'm leaning towards the rough greens, purely due to availability and their amazing colour. I'd ideally love to have something that is handleable though, and I hear that green bush rats can be quite nippy, and that rough greens should be purely display. Are both of these true? I'm not opposed to a nip here and there, but its good to know what I would potentially be getting myself into. Would a rough green snake warm up/tolerate occasional handling over time or is it just too stressful for them? Any first hand information regarding care, temperament/handleability would be great!

[Tsubaki]

I've only had second hand experience with these species, but none of the ones I encountered appreciated handling much. Especially the rough greens did not like the contact, they think they're invisible and pretend to be a twig/leaf/vine whatever, moving around very slowly.. therefor being touched by something stresses them out a lot. The only bush snakes I've seen were at the zoo I volunteered at, they seem to need ideal living conditions to thrive since they were imported.. and that is all of the experience I have with them.

[Veronica]

From what I've read, green bush rats tend to be very bitey, and that rough greens stress very easily and often don't do well in captivity.

[toddnbecka]

I have a pair of green bush rats. They're not comfortable being handled, unlike my Japanese and Russian rats. They're more arboreal, and won't take anything larger than a small hopper mouse, despite being fully grown adults. Nor particularly regular feeders either, despite being CB and raised here from babies when I received them a couple years ago. I just received an order of frozen quail chicks for my baby Dominicans and Boiga, will offer those and see if they'll take them.
However, I'd still recommend them over WC rough greens.

[Bandit]

Can’t speak on bush rats here, but I can tell you a bit about my experience with Rough Greens (which seems to fit in with other people’s experiences). The short answer is no - they don’t like to to be handled and they won’t tolerate it over time. They stress easily and too much handling will ultimately lead to them dying. I truly believe that the reason they have a reputation of not doing well in captivity is two fold: (1) because of stress from too much handling and/or improper set up where they don’t feel secure, or (2) because almost all rough greens are wild caught and have parasites or some other issues before they even reach the owner’s home.

All that being said, I really enjoyed keeping this species. I never handled except for when cleaning the enclosure. They’re really interesting to observe. Then again, I didn’t mind having a snake that I couldn’t frequently take out and hold. If you don’t mind all of this, then go for it. There are plenty of beautiful snakes out there that will tolerate handling though. Hundreds of other options that could make for a more enjoyable pet if you want something you can handle.