diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 4bf554a..104d503 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,9 +1,19 @@
-### 0.3.5
+### 0.3.6
 (not yet released)
 
+- ...
+
+
+### 0.3.5
+(February 6th, 2013)
+
 - `ended_at` is now recorded for normally finished jobs, too.  (Previously only
   for failed jobs.)
 
+- Adds support for both `Redis` and `StrictRedis` connection types
+
+- Makes `StrictRedis` the default connection type if none is explicitly provided
+
 
 ### 0.3.4
 (January 23rd, 2013)
@@ -93,11 +103,11 @@
   invocations:
 
       ```python
-      from redis import Redis
+      from redis import StrictRedis
       from rq.decorators import job
 
       # Connect to Redis
-      redis = Redis()
+      redis = StrictRedis()
 
       @job('high', timeout=10, connection=redis)
       def some_work(x, y):
diff --git a/rq/compat/connections.py b/rq/compat/connections.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0374b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rq/compat/connections.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from redis import Redis, StrictRedis
+from functools import partial
+
+
+def fix_return_type(func):
+    # deliberately no functools.wraps() call here, since the function being
+    # wrapped is a partial, which has no module
+    def _inner(*args, **kwargs):
+        value = func(*args, **kwargs)
+        if value is None:
+            value = -1
+        return value
+    return _inner
+
+
+def patch_connection(connection):
+    if not isinstance(connection, StrictRedis):
+        raise ValueError('A StrictRedis or Redis connection is required.')
+
+    # Don't patch already patches objects
+    PATCHED_METHODS = ['_setex', '_lrem', '_zadd', '_pipeline', '_ttl']
+    if all([hasattr(connection, attr) for attr in PATCHED_METHODS]):
+        return connection
+
+    if isinstance(connection, Redis):
+        connection._setex = partial(StrictRedis.setex, connection)
+        connection._lrem = partial(StrictRedis.lrem, connection)
+        connection._zadd = partial(StrictRedis.zadd, connection)
+        connection._pipeline = partial(StrictRedis.pipeline, connection)
+        connection._ttl = fix_return_type(partial(StrictRedis.ttl, connection))
+        if hasattr(connection, 'pttl'):
+            connection._pttl = fix_return_type(partial(StrictRedis.pttl, connection))
+    elif isinstance(connection, StrictRedis):
+        connection._setex = connection.setex
+        connection._lrem = connection.lrem
+        connection._zadd = connection.zadd
+        connection._pipeline = connection.pipeline
+        connection._ttl = connection.ttl
+        if hasattr(connection, 'pttl'):
+            connection._pttl = connection.pttl
+    else:
+        raise ValueError('Unanticipated connection type: {}. Please report this.'.format(type(connection)))
+
+    return connection
diff --git a/rq/connections.py b/rq/connections.py
index 05de2f1..f4a72e4 100644
--- a/rq/connections.py
+++ b/rq/connections.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from contextlib import contextmanager
-from redis import Redis
+from redis import StrictRedis
 from .local import LocalStack, release_local
+from .compat.connections import patch_connection
 
 
 class NoRedisConnectionException(Exception):
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ class NoRedisConnectionException(Exception):
 @contextmanager
 def Connection(connection=None):
     if connection is None:
-        connection = Redis()
+        connection = StrictRedis()
     push_connection(connection)
     try:
         yield
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ def Connection(connection=None):
 
 def push_connection(redis):
     """Pushes the given connection on the stack."""
-    _connection_stack.push(redis)
+    _connection_stack.push(patch_connection(redis))
 
 
 def pop_connection():
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ def use_connection(redis=None):
     release_local(_connection_stack)
 
     if redis is None:
-        redis = Redis()
+        redis = StrictRedis()
     push_connection(redis)
 
 
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ def resolve_connection(connection=None):
     Raises an exception if it cannot resolve a connection now.
     """
     if connection is not None:
-        return connection
+        return patch_connection(connection)
 
     connection = get_current_connection()
     if connection is None:
diff --git a/rq/exceptions.py b/rq/exceptions.py
index 4d2cb6a..59c1429 100644
--- a/rq/exceptions.py
+++ b/rq/exceptions.py
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ class NoQueueError(Exception):
 
 
 class UnpickleError(Exception):
-    def __init__(self, message, raw_data):
-        super(UnpickleError, self).__init__(message)
+    def __init__(self, message, raw_data, inner_exception=None):
+        super(UnpickleError, self).__init__(message, inner_exception)
         self.raw_data = raw_data
diff --git a/rq/job.py b/rq/job.py
index e94f512..2000806 100644
--- a/rq/job.py
+++ b/rq/job.py
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ def unpickle(pickled_string):
     """
     try:
         obj = loads(pickled_string)
-    except (StandardError, UnpicklingError):
-        raise UnpickleError('Could not unpickle.', pickled_string)
+    except (StandardError, UnpicklingError) as e:
+        raise UnpickleError('Could not unpickle.', pickled_string, e)
     return obj
 
 
diff --git a/rq/queue.py b/rq/queue.py
index 2103620..ea65559 100644
--- a/rq/queue.py
+++ b/rq/queue.py
@@ -302,11 +302,11 @@ class FailedQueue(Queue):
             job = Job.fetch(job_id, connection=self.connection)
         except NoSuchJobError:
             # Silently ignore/remove this job and return (i.e. do nothing)
-            self.connection.lrem(self.key, job_id)
+            self.connection._lrem(self.key, 0, job_id)
             return
 
         # Delete it from the failed queue (raise an error if that failed)
-        if self.connection.lrem(self.key, job.id) == 0:
+        if self.connection._lrem(self.key, 0, job.id) == 0:
             raise InvalidJobOperationError('Cannot requeue non-failed jobs.')
 
         job.status = Status.QUEUED
diff --git a/rq/scripts/__init__.py b/rq/scripts/__init__.py
index 94441ab..119f4f6 100644
--- a/rq/scripts/__init__.py
+++ b/rq/scripts/__init__.py
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ def setup_default_arguments(args, settings):
 
 def setup_redis(args):
     if args.url is not None:
-        redis_conn = redis.from_url(args.url, db=args.db)
+        redis_conn = redis.StrictRedis.from_url(args.url, db=args.db)
     else:
-        redis_conn = redis.Redis(host=args.host, port=args.port, db=args.db,
+        redis_conn = redis.StrictRedis(host=args.host, port=args.port, db=args.db,
             password=args.password)
     use_connection(redis_conn)
diff --git a/rq/version.py b/rq/version.py
index 8e18e5b..d4ab04a 100644
--- a/rq/version.py
+++ b/rq/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = '0.3.5-dev'
+VERSION = '0.3.6-dev'
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
index cba1035..688c11f 100644
--- a/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ if is_python_version((2, 7), (3, 2)):
 else:
     import unittest2 as unittest  # noqa
 
-from redis import Redis
+from redis import StrictRedis
 from rq import push_connection, pop_connection
 
 
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def find_empty_redis_database():
     will use/connect it when no keys are in there.
     """
     for dbnum in range(4, 17):
-        testconn = Redis(db=dbnum)
+        testconn = StrictRedis(db=dbnum)
         empty = len(testconn.keys('*')) == 0
         if empty:
             return testconn
diff --git a/tests/test_worker.py b/tests/test_worker.py
index e3e706e..b662b09 100644
--- a/tests/test_worker.py
+++ b/tests/test_worker.py
@@ -185,13 +185,13 @@ class TestWorker(RQTestCase):
         job = q.enqueue(say_hello, args=('Frank',), result_ttl=10)
         w = Worker([q])
         w.work(burst=True)
-        self.assertNotEqual(self.testconn.ttl(job.key), 0)
+        self.assertNotEqual(self.testconn._ttl(job.key), 0)
 
         # Job with -1 result_ttl don't expire
         job = q.enqueue(say_hello, args=('Frank',), result_ttl=-1)
         w = Worker([q])
         w.work(burst=True)
-        self.assertEqual(self.testconn.ttl(job.key), None)
+        self.assertEqual(self.testconn._ttl(job.key), -1)
 
         # Job with result_ttl = 0 gets deleted immediately
         job = q.enqueue(say_hello, args=('Frank',), result_ttl=0)