diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 9db2f914..ace4c1c0 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ gem 'dalli'
 gem 'pry'
 gem 'metriks',         '0.9.9.2'
 
-gem 'ar-octopus',      github: 'travis-ci/octopus', require: 'octopus'
+gem 'ar-octopus',      github: 'travis-ci/octopus', require: nil
 
 group :test do
   gem 'rspec',        '~> 2.11'
diff --git a/lib/travis/api/app.rb b/lib/travis/api/app.rb
index d07ffa4f..68ed7981 100644
--- a/lib/travis/api/app.rb
+++ b/lib/travis/api/app.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ require 'rack'
 require 'rack/protection'
 require 'rack/contrib'
 require 'rack/cache'
-require 'octopus'
 require 'active_record'
 require 'redis'
 require 'gh'
@@ -143,6 +142,7 @@ module Travis::Api
         Travis::Database.connect
 
         return unless Travis.config.use_database_follower?
+        require 'octopus'
 
         if Travis.env == 'production' || Travis.env == 'staging'
           puts "Setting up the DB follower as a read slave"
diff --git a/lib/travis/api/app/helpers/db_follower.rb b/lib/travis/api/app/helpers/db_follower.rb
index 4658aca2..1bd654e4 100644
--- a/lib/travis/api/app/helpers/db_follower.rb
+++ b/lib/travis/api/app/helpers/db_follower.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@ class Travis::Api::App
   module Helpers
     module DbFollower
       def prefer_follower
-        Octopus.using(:follower) do
+        if Travis.config.use_database_follower?
+          Octopus.using(:follower) do
+            yield
+          end
+        else
           yield
         end
       end