The method I have been using lately has been a great method for thawing & for enticing the appetite of Hissy. I lay a completely frozen rat out in my room (where her cage is) for about three hours or so. After three hours the rat is fairly well defrosted. Then, I take a hair dryer initially set on a low heat setting & I gradually heat the mouse up until i can feel that it is not cold anymore on any part of the body. It won't be warm necessarily, but it is not cold at all. This usually takes less than five minutes. Then I turn the temp up on the hair dryer. I put the rat on top of the screen hole of Hissy's AP cage & I blow hot air over the top of the rat to warm it up & give it a great heat signature. This also helps because Hissy, who has smelled a hint of rat for the last couple of hours, is gettin that pipin hot rat scented air blown right into her cage. She has never been an aggressive eater which is to say she would always wait patiently until i covered her up & left the room before really investigating her food. However, this past week I finally got this method down to a science &, before I could even lay the rat down in front of her hide, she HAMMERED it off the tongs. The rat had been in her cage for all of less than five seconds & she tatooed that bad boy! It was the first time i have seen her coil prey since way back when I first got her. At any rate, the rat did not explode at all & she WOLFED that thing down faster than any prey item in the history of our lives together! Hope this helps!