diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index f5a2259..e9c1e44 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+0.5.3
+=====
+- Remove mockredis as install requirement, make only test requirement [@blueyed]
+
 0.5.2
 =====
 - Fix regex in 'unblock_username_view' to handle special symbols [@ruthus18]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4e0a694..81124fd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ If you are using defender on your site, submit a PR to add to the list.
 
 Versions
 ========
+- 0.5.3 [in progress]
+  - Remove mockredis as install requirement, make only test requirement [@blueyed]
+
 - 0.5.2
   - Fix regex in 'unblock_username_view' to handle special symbols [@ruthus18]
   - Fix django requires version for 1.11.x [@kencochrane]
diff --git a/defender/connection.py b/defender/connection.py
index a4db7b4..340f015 100644
--- a/defender/connection.py
+++ b/defender/connection.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from django.core.cache import caches
 from django.core.cache.backends.base import InvalidCacheBackendError
-import mockredis
+
 import redis
 try:
     import urlparse
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 # Register database schemes in URLs.
 urlparse.uses_netloc.append("redis")
 
-
-MOCKED_REDIS = mockredis.mock_strict_redis_client()
 INVALID_CACHE_ERROR_MSG = 'The cache {} was not found on the django cache' \
                           ' settings.'
 
@@ -21,7 +19,8 @@
 def get_redis_connection():
     """ Get the redis connection if not using mock """
     if config.MOCK_REDIS:  # pragma: no cover
-        return MOCKED_REDIS  # pragma: no cover
+        import mockredis
+        return mockredis.mock_strict_redis_client()  # pragma: no cover
     elif config.DEFENDER_REDIS_NAME:  # pragma: no cover
         try:
             cache = caches[config.DEFENDER_REDIS_NAME]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index bfb5652..90c38a0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
     from distutils.core import setup
 
 
-version = '0.5.2'
+version = '0.5.3'
 
 
 def get_packages(package):
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def get_package_data(package):
       include_package_data=True,
       packages=get_packages('defender'),
       package_data=get_package_data('defender'),
-      install_requires=['Django>=1.8,<2.1', 'redis>=2.10.3,<3.0',
-                        'mockredispy>=2.9.0.11,<3.0'],
-      tests_require=['mock', 'mockredispy', 'coverage', 'celery', 'django-redis-cache'],
+      install_requires=['Django>=1.8,<2.1', 'redis>=2.10.3,<3.0'],
+      tests_require=['mock', 'mockredispy>=2.9.0.11,<3.0', 'coverage',
+                     'celery', 'django-redis-cache'],
       )