I usually thaw out rats by putting them on a heat pad while still frozen. This has worked ok, but there were a few times when I forgot about them for half and hour and they start going bad and the stomach swells and it wastes the rat. Even if it doesn't seem to go bad, I am starting to think that the part that touches the heat pad thaws a lot faster than the top part, and when the top part is thawed, the bottom part may have been "over heated" somewhat.

I would like to from now on, thaw out the rats at room temperature before heating them up. I of course have to work and I get home pretty late. Usually, I will go to work, get back home about 6pm to put down my stuff, go to the gym and get back home about 9 to 10 pm. I was thinking to take the rats out when I get home, take the rats out, go to the gym and come back and feed them.

Is this period of time too long? Say 3 to 5 hours or room temperature thawing? Will they go bad in that period of time at room temperature? It's about 80F here.

My smallest snake eats 40 gram mouse, biggest 100 - 120 gram rat. But most of them are in the 50 - 70 gram rat range.