No one is mounting?

[rhianna]

This is my first time bonding bunnies. I’ve had bear since October 2013 and he is about 2 years 8 months old. I just recently decided to adopt a friend for him, and I resorted to Craigslist since there are really no rescues around me and most Craigslist buns end up unlucky. I ended up falling in love with a double maned lionhead male named Jean-Luc, about a year and a half old. I know that male-male bonding isn’t always the easiest, but there were really no females that weren’t from backyard breeders or like 60 miles away, and Jean-Luc was sort of desperate for a home. They are both neutered. 

Anyways, back to the point. This is day 3 of bunny bonding and there’s been some slight improvements but nothing major. I’ve been using the bathtub as well as stressing on top of the washing machine. They’re to the point where Jean-Luc is totally fine with Bear, he stretches out next to him, grooms himself, etc. Bear is absolutely terrified and just mostly sits there all bunched up with his eyes about to pop out of his head the whole time. He has groomed himself once or twice but that’s it. Jean-Luc will come over and ask to be groomed, and Bear will stomp then run away. This just repeats itself. There had been some nipping from Jean-Luc, but it’s mostly subsided. 

I realize that all of this is pretty normal but one thing that hasn’t happened is mounting. Neither of them have attempted at all to mount each other in the past 3 days. Is that normal? I’ve read everywhere that usually they spend the first few days establishing dominance by mounting. Can bonding really progress if no one is trying to be dominant? I’m not sure what to think about it. I think that once Bear comes around, they’ll be really good friends. I really want this to work out. Thanks for any help 

[Sarita]

Every bonding experience is different and it either may be too soon for mounting or it may not happen at all….while mounting is definitely a way to show dominance it isn’t necessarily the only way.

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