diff --git a/app/functions.py b/app/functions.py
index 00229e2..887a494 100644
--- a/app/functions.py
+++ b/app/functions.py
@@ -165,8 +165,11 @@ def make_post(args):
 		# user has revoked the token given to the bot
 		# this needs to be dealt with properly later on, but for now, we'll just disable the bot
 		c.execute("UPDATE bots SET enabled = FALSE WHERE handle = %s", (handle,))
+	except:
+		print("Failed to create post for {}".format(handle))
 
 	if id == None:
 		# this wasn't a reply, it was a regular post, so update the last post date
 		c.execute("UPDATE bots SET last_post = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() WHERE handle = %s", (handle,))
 		db.commit()
+	c.close()
diff --git a/app/service.py b/app/service.py
index cc105a0..2fd3a48 100755
--- a/app/service.py
+++ b/app/service.py
@@ -2,33 +2,55 @@
 import MySQLdb
 from mastodon import Mastodon
 from multiprocessing import Pool
+import requests
 import json
 import functions
 
 cfg = json.load(open('config.json'))
 
 def update_icon(bot):
-	db = MySQLdb.connect(
-		host = cfg['db_host'],
-		user=cfg['db_user'],
-		passwd=cfg['db_pass'],
-		db=cfg['db_name'],
-		use_unicode=True,
-		charset="utf8mb4"
-	)
+	try:
+		db = MySQLdb.connect(
+			host = cfg['db_host'],
+			user=cfg['db_user'],
+			passwd=cfg['db_pass'],
+			db=cfg['db_name'],
+			use_unicode=True,
+			charset="utf8mb4"
+		)
+	except:
+		print("Failed to connect to database.")
+		return
+
+
+	url = "https://{}".format(bot['handle'].split("@")[2])
+	try:
+		r = requests.head(url, timeout=10, allow_redirects = True)
+		if r.status_code != 200:
+			raise
+	except:
+		print("{} is down.".format(url))
+		return
 
-	print("Updating cached icon for {}".format(bot['handle']))
 	client = Mastodon(
 		client_id = bot['client_id'],
 		client_secret = bot['client_secret'],
 		access_token = bot['secret'],
-		api_base_url = "https://{}".format(bot['handle'].split("@")[2])
+		api_base_url = url
 	)
 
-	avatar = client.account_verify_credentials()['avatar']
+
 	c = db.cursor()
+	try:
+		avatar = client.account_verify_credentials()['avatar']
+	except:
+		c.execute("UPDATE bots SET icon_update_time = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() WHERE handle = %s", (bot['handle'],))
+		db.commit()
+		c.close()
+		return
 	c.execute("UPDATE bots SET icon = %s, icon_update_time = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() WHERE handle = %s", (avatar, bot['handle']))
 	db.commit()
+	c.close()
 
 print("Establishing DB connection")
 db = MySQLdb.connect(