How do you thaw feeders properly?

Yeah once they are defrosted with warm water I just run the tap water until it's as hot as it can get, fill up my little bucket and leave the thawed item in the hot water to warm it up a little bit. Maybe 5 minutes or so and then offer it to the snake. Just to heat it up right before feeding.

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You can also leave them out at room temperature to thaw for a few hours like you would with chicken, or something you were gonna cook for dinner,

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This is how people get sick! The outside of the meat gets warm enough to let bacteria grow before the inside is even thawed, yuck.

I take the frodent out the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge. When I'm ready to feed, I run the hottest water from the tap, and let it sit in there for about 10 minutes. If it's a big rat, I run more hot water and let it sit for another 10. If it's a small rat or mouse, I don't. After that, I run hot water again, and walk with it over to the cage/tank. I pull it out of the water, pat a few times with a paper towel to get most of the water off, and there you go.

If you forget to take it out the night before, you can thaw it in COLD water for as long as it takes to thaw. You will need to switch out the water whenever it warms to room temp so that bacteria don't start growing.

I thaw mine out for a few hours at room temp in Ziploc bags then I put the Ziploc bags in 2-3 cycles of warm water to heat them up. I don't let the rodent get wet, just to me it would make them more prone to busting.