My male is eating small F/T rats, and it takes them pretty long to thaw. If it's the weekend, I'll take the rat out the night before and just sit it in the snake room, and feed it off the next morning, otherwise I'll thaw it in the fridge overnight if it's during the week (I go to school and such during the day) and then when I get home I take it out and sit it in the snake room for maybe two hours or so just to warm it up a little.
If it is visibly rotting, I wouldn't feed it, but I wouldn't worry about it staying out too long if it was just a matter of hours because ball pythons will eat carrion in the wild, so they've got some tough little stomachs. If the rat is too far gone even for the snake, then they'll refuse to eat it. Simple as that.
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