diff --git a/scripts/galaxy_messaging/amqp_consumer.py b/scripts/galaxy_messaging/amqp_consumer.py
index ac533b757f8..9775bb438ca 100644
--- a/scripts/galaxy_messaging/amqp_consumer.py
+++ b/scripts/galaxy_messaging/amqp_consumer.py
@@ -9,14 +9,24 @@ Once the RabbitMQ server has been setup and started with the given parameters,
 this script can be run to receive messages and update the Galaxy database accordingly
 '''
 
-
-from amqplib import client_0_8 as amqp
 import ConfigParser
-import sys
+import sys, os
 import optparse
 import xml.dom.minidom
 from galaxydb_interface import GalaxyDbInterface
 
+assert sys.version_info[:2] >= ( 2, 4 )
+new_path = [ os.path.join( os.getcwd(), "lib" ) ]
+new_path.extend( sys.path[1:] ) # remove scripts/ from the path
+sys.path = new_path
+
+from galaxy import eggs
+import pkg_resources
+pkg_resources.require( "amqplib" )
+
+from amqplib import client_0_8 as amqp
+
+
 galaxy_config_file = 'universe_wsgi.ini'
 global dbconnstr
 
diff --git a/scripts/galaxy_messaging/galaxydb_interface.py b/scripts/galaxy_messaging/galaxydb_interface.py
index e07c5765ecc..16645f71b48 100644
--- a/scripts/galaxy_messaging/galaxydb_interface.py
+++ b/scripts/galaxy_messaging/galaxydb_interface.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 #/usr/bin/python
 
-from sqlalchemy import *
-from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 import sys
 import optparse
@@ -9,6 +7,17 @@ import os
 import time
 import logging
 
+assert sys.version_info[:2] >= ( 2, 4 )
+new_path = [ os.path.join( os.getcwd(), "lib" ) ]
+new_path.extend( sys.path[1:] ) # remove scripts/ from the path
+sys.path = new_path
+from galaxy import eggs
+import pkg_resources
+#pkg_resources.require( "psycopg2 >= 2.0.6" )
+pkg_resources.require( "SQLAlchemy >= 0.4" )
+from sqlalchemy import *
+from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
+
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
 log = logging.getLogger( 'GalaxyDbInterface' )