diff --git a/crawler.go b/crawler.go
index 7abc3ad..d7a8154 100644
--- a/crawler.go
+++ b/crawler.go
@@ -140,6 +140,9 @@ func crawlIP(tw *Twistee) ([]*wire.NetAddress, *CrawlError) {
 		log.Printf("%s - Connected to remote address. Last connect was %v ago\n", ip, time.Since(tw.lastConnect).String())
 	}
 
+	// set a deadline for all comms to be done by. After this all i/o will error
+	conn.SetDeadline(time.Now().Add(time.Second * MAXTO))
+
 	// First command to remote end needs to be a version command
 	// last parameter is lastblock
 	msgver, err := wire.NewMsgVersionFromConn(conn, NOUNCE, 0)
diff --git a/dnsseeder.go b/dnsseeder.go
index 0e6d73a..6267c1e 100644
--- a/dnsseeder.go
+++ b/dnsseeder.go
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ const (
 
 	TWSTDPORT = 28333 // standard port twister listens on
 
-	MAXFAILS = 55 // max number of connect fails before we delete a twistee. Just over 24 hours(checked every 33 minutes)
+	MAXFAILS = 48 // max number of connect fails before we delete a twistee. Just over 24 hours(checked every 33 minutes)
+
+	MAXTO = 250 // max seconds (4min 10 sec) for all comms to twistee to complete before we timeout
 
 	// DNS Type. Is this twistee using v4/v6 and standard or non standard ports
 	DNSV4STD = 1