Sumatran STB as a "classroom mascot" animal?

Hello everyone!
I need your opinions.
I just finished student teaching and [hopefully] will soon be a certified 7-12 biology teacher. I'm thinking of a good "mascot animal" for a classroom and one snake that really caught my eye is the [black] Sumatran short-tail python.

I already have a young anery Kenyan Sand boa and two juvenile rubber boas. All three snakes, as I have found out during a children's summer camp, are fantastic animals for kids to handle. Most of the kids ended up loving them, even if they hated snakes before.

I would, however, also like a more "visually spectacular" animal to contrast against the little boas, especially the rubber boas that look like earthworms. I'm leaning towards Sumatran STB's for a few reasons:

1. I'm in New York State and short-tail pythons aren't a restricted species.
2. Male Sumatrans stay at a very manageable size, which is important since I'm not guaranteed to have a lot of free space in a future classroom.
3. They're very hefty animals that look much larger and more impressive than they actually are. Makes an excellent contrast against a tiny male sand boa.
4. Its a nice change of pace from Ball Pythons and Corn Snakes, which many of the students may have already seen before.
5. Its a snake that I'd want to keep as a pet anyway regardless of the classroom.

As for the questions:
Are there other snakes that you think would serve the "classroom mascot" purpose better than the short-tail pythons?

My only other experience with snakes are tiny little rubber/sand boas, is a short-tail python completely out of my league [other reptile experience are two kenyan zebra skinks and a male tegu]?

This has been bothering me for a while. How do you know if a short-tail python is overweight given that they're supposed to look really big and fat?




In the future I'd also love to get my hands on pseudoxenodon macrops for a demonstration of batesian mimicry, but that thing is completely out of my league and I think NYS might have a restriction on it for being rear-fanged anyway.


Thanks for the input!

I should also add:
I don't want lizards as a classroom animal. My kenyan zebra skinks are living in a 4ftx2ft enclosure [which is probably overkill for such a small animal], but I'd feel obliged to give lizards much larger, roomier enclosures than I would for snakes, and that can be a serious problem for a classroom setup. The extra lighting and the energy costs associated with it would also be an issue with school administration. Last, but not least, as that the kenyan zebra skinks are very skittish when there's more than one person looking at them, so keeping them in a classroom is probably not good for their health. And there's no way I'd be able to keep a large monitor/tegu in a classroom.

...oh Hell, I just realized that I mislabeled "STPs" as "STBs". STP = Sumatran Short Tail Python, if you didn't pick that up. Can't find an edit feature.

I have never owned a Short Tail but I have owned a Blood, and he was the meanest snake I have ever had, and I have kept Bulls as wells. I know that there are always exceptions but personally I dont think Short tails would be a good fit for a classroom setting. Have you thought about a Carpet Python? They get bigger but not huge and have a good personality. Most that I have seen are very calm. But again I cant say from personal experience since I have not owned any.