You thawed them for 24 hours? I'm pretty new to this but that seems like a long time for thawing. If you wanted to thaw them out that long I would imagine you could do it in the fridge and then warm them up just prior to presenting them to your snake. 24 hours at room temp is a long time for bacteria to grow, and the gas/bloat from that, plus the pressure exerted on them by holding it with spoons could have helped your rat to explode.
Just a guess though, like I said I'm pretty new to this and my baby has only been with me long enough to eat twice now.
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