Instead of putting the bare rats and mice in the hot water can I thaw them while they are in the bag? I hate it when little aspen shavings get on them and into my snakes mouth. Its not hard to remove but when it happens all the time it gets annoying. Especially when I cant get it all.

So can I thaw them in a bag? And if so will the time thawing be around the same ? I usually just put the tap on and wait till it gets to the hottest it can and put them.