Bonding questions

[bunny34422]

Timothy was recently neutered and I've been thinking about letting him "pick" a spayed friend at a local rescue once he's 8 weeks post op. I'm leaving for college in late August and my siblings will be going back to school so my parents agreed to adopt another. However, my grandma lives with us, she's not an animal person so I'm afraid she's going to be against it since she doesn't even like Timothy :/ If I do manage to convince her, I have some bonding questions:

1) Timothy has his own room and if they bond, that's where they'd live at the end. I know I have to thoroughly clean his room and everything in it with white vinegar and I'll rearrange his setup before moving them in, but will that really be enough though to prevent territorial behavior? He's always rubbing his chin on everything so I guess I just need reassurance that white vinegar will neutralize it all.

2) Should I keep the new bunny in an x-pen (double fenced) in his room for a week or two to allow her to settle in before starting the bonding process in my room (neutral territory), or should I pen them both side by side in his room? Timothy does not like being penned but I will if I have to

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Yay! I hope you can convince your grandma!
Cleaning with white vinegar will neutralize everything so there won't be an issue there. I would suggest cleaning his room while he is on his bunny dates and not allowing him back in the room until you have the female bunny. Instead of letting Timothy freeroam in his room and locking the new bunny up in an xpen, you should give each rabbit an xpen so neither of them feel like they have an advantage. Put them in xpens side by side for 2 weeks, swapping litter boxes, blankets, toys, etc. each day so they get used to each other's scent. Let them out one at a time for at least an hour each day. Once you begin the bonding process you will only want to let them out for playtime during the bonding sessions.
I completely understand that Timothy doesn't like being locked up, Theo is the same way. Give Timothy lots of fun toys in his pen so he doesn't hate it too much. I have recently had to keep Theo in a playpen because of his sore hocks and he was hating his pen. I was having a hard time getting him back in his pen after playtime, so I taught him "go home" by directing him into his pen and giving him a treat. Now, as soon as I tell him to "go home" he will run into his pen and wait for a treat. He doesn't hate his playpen (as much) anymore!