Dortmund has started nipping my eyelids

[Flakes]

I was sleeping this morning and Dortmund must have hopped up on my pillow and he nipped my eyelid. I scratched his head for a bit and then he ran away. I fell back asleep and a little while later he nipped my eyelid again.

The thing is, normally Dortmund doesn't bite... once or twice when we started getting to know each other he nipped my hand when I stopped petting him, but this hasn't happened for a while. So two nips within the span of a couple hours is odd.

The way I see it, either:

1) He was trying to tell me to wake up and play with him
2) My eyes twitching in REM sleep made my eyelids look scary
3) His neutering was a horrible failure, he has become one of the undead and developed a taste for human flesh and my eyeballs are the easiest way to my brains.

Any thoughts?

 

[Imbrium]

1or 3, it's kind of a toss up. Norman never bit under any other circumstances but god forbid I try to sleep in his presence. He had a serious penchant for nibbling on my eyelids or earlobes when I was asleep. I don't remember him being like that in the beginning, but once he developed the habit, I never could break it or explain it.

The best suggestions I can come up with are to either punish him the way a mommy bun would (firmly but gently pressing his head to the ground to tell him you want him to stop) or the way an adult bun would l, by biting him back (not hard, of course... equivalent to a mild pinch). Both tactics can be but aren't always effective. Norman was particularly stubborn about being a buttmunch, so it didn't work on him .

 

[Flakes]

Thanks, though if he doesn’t stop I may have to take away his bed privileges. I am a bit sensitive about my eyes — I’ve had 6 eye surgeries in the last 2 years.

 

[Imbrium]

Yes, like with any other destructive or obnoxious behavior that becomes a rabbit's "new favorite thing," my solution to Norman's rotten behavior while I was sleeping was to block access.