Mine ate 3 feet of foam pipe insulation off a hose riser once. No one died, but it got redone and covered in gorilla tape. I recently had some eat some aluminum ducting tape, go figure. So far, no one is showing any ill effects. Honestly, no matter how hard you try, the tiny satans still...
That should work. In some conditions, their feet could possibly get frozen to the metal, and frostbite would definitely be a risk. I would cover it with something that will prevent either of those from happening.