1) Any time, I would try in the evening when she's active. You can thaw the feeder in the room where she's kept to pre-scent it.
2) Thaw as usual, then blow-dry it. Or just thaw it with the blow dryer but that takes a while.
3) Before you thaw the feeder you can put a wide plastic or paper plate down in her enclosure, or even a piece of newspaper, over top of the substrate.
FWIW I feed on cypress and mine have never had a problem with it. Also, once she has it wrapped up, don't check on her for an hour, some of mine won't eat if they are being watched.
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