I suppose it may depend what kind of theme you want to go for. In higher level writing, what sets a paper apart is not just the mechanics of a paper, or even the subject, but the depth of thoughts conveyed. Instead of just presenting data and saying "these data points are similar, while these other ones are different" you want to analyze the data you present and show how it supports some theme or purpose driving your paper.
Various species lend themselves well to particular themes.
For example, many new snake owners decide between two well promoted "starter snakes": corns and ball pythons. You could compare/contrast the two species from the point of view of a first time pet snake. Similarly, as people have already mentioned, there are also king snakes, for whom temperament differences are a potential concern.
If you want to take the perspective of husbandry, there is much to compare and contrast between "beginner level" snakes like corns and "advanced level" snakes like green tree pythons.
If you are writing to a non-herp friendly audience and want to convince them of the sanity of owning a pet corn snake, you could do a compare/contrast with a venomous or very large species (Burmese/reticulated pythons) perhaps. Perhaps from the perspective of say a tenant whose landlord/lady is not initially receptive to their choice in pets due to misconceptions. This one in particular has a way of being continually relevant when life creeps up on you and might even be useful to have sitting around years down the road.
From a scientific perspective there are interesting anatomical and phylogenetic differences among all the species of snakes, even and especially the lowly "primitive snakes" (like thread and blind snakes) in family Scolecophidia (as opposed to Alethinophidia, the family that contains most commonly known snakes including corns, pythons, boa's, etc). The evolutionary convergence of the green tree python and the emerald tree boa is fascinating and a source of much confusion even among herp keepers.
Artistically, there are many subjects to explore and expound upon in the portrayal of snakes in the arts and media. This could even be used in support of the theme of educating the "uninitiated".
In most of these themes, a foundational understanding of the anatomy and classification differences among snakes is useful. For example, corns are a subspecies of colubrids, which have significant differences from groups like pythons/boas/vipers/elapids. I would recommend using both the common names to appeal to the broader audience, and the scientific names for the sake of precision. This makes a worthy beginning to most themes, particularly if your rhetorical style tends toward logos, as long as everything you write you tie back clearly and strongly to your theme.
Whatever you end up doing, please do post! I for one would love to read it.
