Rock on! I've been doing that all along! I would be careful with the hot water dispenser as that is fairly close to boiling and could be cooking the rats as opposed to just hot tap water. I remember having one of those in our house as a kid and I always burned myself (I wasn't so sharp and still am not).
I do this but I put the rat in a ziplock bag - thus keeping it dry and preserving the stronger eau de rat.
