i have used the hot water method but ive had problems with exploding mice in the past.. eww

what i do now is take the rodents out of the freezer at least 4 hours before i need to use them (more is better, for example: i just took out all the rats i need for everyone at 12:30, and will probably feed between 7 and 9 tonight). I put them in an extra bin in my rack with the larger rats over the heat tape. I then use a hair dryer to warm them up. What i like about the hair dryer is that the rats dont cool down quickly like they do when they're wet. Some of my snakes have great feeding responses but don't like to be watched so i just lay the prey item down and leave them alone and its gone when i check the next morning but if they were wet they'd soak the cage and get cold. With the hair dryer i can warm a rodent up again real quick if someone is having trouble "locating" their dinner

hope that helped! congrats on your successful feed.