For well over ten years, my method of feeding my bp has been this:
-defrost on counter overnight
-boil kettle and pour water into tub
-submerge rat for ten seconds
-pat down with paper towels and feed

However, I've recently learned that I should defrost in the fridge instead, because otherwise bacteria growth potentially becomes dangerously high. This means my new routine will be to leave the rat in the fridge overnight, take it out for an hour to warm it up to about room temperature, then carry on as usual.

This question might be dumb, but if I don't ask, I'll never know. Besides, if I'm doing one thing wrong, I could be doing it all wrong. Basically, I was just hoping to make sure that the rest of my routine is still safe to do? I know there's lots of different ways to safely heat up rats, but I don't want to change something for him if I don't have to (especially since I'm already planning on rocking his little boat a bit by giving him food closer to 5% of his weight than 10%)