Hi! About two months ago, I adopted another bun (Tillie), a spayed female, as a companion to my bun, (Franky) a nuetered male. We went through a whole bonding process that lasted about 5 weeks, where we would introduce them over and over again in the nuetral space of our basement. They weren’t best friends at first. Tillie allowed Franky to mount her on their first meeting, but then didn’t want any of it. We had to break them up circling a few times, but most of the trouble came from Tillie because whenever Franky would approach her, she would get scared and nip his face. 

But eventually, it seemed they got over all their hangups and grew to tolerate each other and then love one another! They started licking one another’s faces, cuddling, following each other around, sharing meals side by side and playing together. We thought this was the point that they were “bonded.” But, then a couple weeks ago, we noticed that they had had sort of a tiff. I came into the room and found tuffs of Franky’s fur that looked like it had been pulled out. They were acting strangely towards one another and after spending some time with them that day, I witnessed Franky trying to mount Tillie again. This caused more circling, which I broke up. 

We called our adoption expert to ask for her advice and she said that perhaps they just need a little “reminder” of how much they love each other. She suggested we take them for a car ride and that perhaps a little enduced stress would bring them together. We did that and afterwards, they seemed just like normal, cuddling and grooming one another. 

But, the mounting has not stopped. Very frequently, I’ll witness either Franky mount Tillie or Tillie mount Franky. It usually irritates the other bun, but it doesn’t ever elevate to a fight. There haven’t been any more tuffs of fur pulled out. And, in between, they are so loving towards each other! 

All the material I’ve read about the bonding process says that this mounting usually stops after a week, so I am just confused as to why it’s still happening. Are they still trying to establish who is dominate? Do they just enjoy mounting one another? Or is it just to show that they are pissed off with the other bun? Or is it possible that one of them is not fully nuetered and this is caused by hormones? 

Thanks for your help! Any information you can give me would be wonderful!