My EL D will nip "unprovoked" at the legs of any males that come near me – I think it's related to incidents with his previous owner. But also I've been noticing that these "attacks" are not always totally unprovoked. In some cases, he'll nip at my brother when he comes out of the dark guest bedroom or up from the dark basement and I think he doesn't like the surprise. He'll also nip if there's too many people crowded around me or him and so maybe he doesn't like feeling surrounded. Maybe there is something that is really setting off alarms with your beastie too. EL D hasn't been any problem when we're out on our walks - he'll even let the neighborhood kids come running up and pet him (I've told all the kids however that they have to let EL D smell them before they touch him and the kids all respect that so far). The problem might partly be a territorial thing.