diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
index e9c4f35334..6a8f795784 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
@@ -20,34 +20,37 @@ import re
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 from bson.son import SON
-from fs.osfs import OSFS
-from path import path
+from contracts import contract, new_contract
 from datetime import datetime
+from fs.osfs import OSFS
+from mongodb_proxy import MongoProxy, autoretry_read
+from path import path
 from pytz import UTC
 from contracts import contract, new_contract
 from operator import itemgetter
 from sortedcontainers import SortedListWithKey
 
 from importlib import import_module
-from xmodule.errortracker import null_error_tracker, exc_info_to_str
-from xmodule.mako_module import MakoDescriptorSystem
-from xmodule.error_module import ErrorDescriptor
-from xblock.runtime import KvsFieldData
-from xblock.exceptions import InvalidScopeError
-from xblock.fields import Scope, ScopeIds, Reference, ReferenceList, ReferenceValueDict
-
-from xmodule.modulestore import ModuleStoreWriteBase, ModuleStoreEnum, BulkOperationsMixin, BulkOpsRecord
-from xmodule.modulestore.draft_and_published import ModuleStoreDraftAndPublished, DIRECT_ONLY_CATEGORIES
+from opaque_keys.edx.keys import UsageKey, CourseKey, AssetKey
 from opaque_keys.edx.locations import Location
-from xmodule.modulestore.exceptions import ItemNotFoundError, DuplicateCourseError, ReferentialIntegrityError
-from xmodule.modulestore.inheritance import InheritanceMixin, inherit_metadata, InheritanceKeyValueStore
-from xblock.core import XBlock
 from opaque_keys.edx.locations import SlashSeparatedCourseKey
 from opaque_keys.edx.locator import CourseLocator
-from opaque_keys.edx.keys import UsageKey, CourseKey, AssetKey
-from xmodule.exceptions import HeartbeatFailure
-from xmodule.modulestore.edit_info import EditInfoRuntimeMixin
+
+from xblock.core import XBlock
+from xblock.exceptions import InvalidScopeError
+from xblock.fields import Scope, ScopeIds, Reference, ReferenceList, ReferenceValueDict
+from xblock.runtime import KvsFieldData
+
 from xmodule.assetstore import AssetMetadata
+from xmodule.error_module import ErrorDescriptor
+from xmodule.errortracker import null_error_tracker, exc_info_to_str
+from xmodule.exceptions import HeartbeatFailure
+from xmodule.mako_module import MakoDescriptorSystem
+from xmodule.modulestore import ModuleStoreWriteBase, ModuleStoreEnum, BulkOperationsMixin, BulkOpsRecord
+from xmodule.modulestore.draft_and_published import ModuleStoreDraftAndPublished, DIRECT_ONLY_CATEGORIES
+from xmodule.modulestore.edit_info import EditInfoRuntimeMixin
+from xmodule.modulestore.exceptions import ItemNotFoundError, DuplicateCourseError, ReferentialIntegrityError
+from xmodule.modulestore.inheritance import InheritanceMixin, inherit_metadata, InheritanceKeyValueStore
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -442,6 +445,7 @@ class MongoModuleStore(ModuleStoreDraftAndPublished, ModuleStoreWriteBase, Mongo
                  error_tracker=null_error_tracker,
                  i18n_service=None,
                  fs_service=None,
+                 retry_wait_time=0.1,
                  **kwargs):
         """
         :param doc_store_config: must have a host, db, and collection entries. Other common entries: port, tz_aware.
@@ -455,15 +459,18 @@ class MongoModuleStore(ModuleStoreDraftAndPublished, ModuleStoreWriteBase, Mongo
             """
             Create & open the connection, authenticate, and provide pointers to the collection
             """
-            self.database = pymongo.database.Database(
-                pymongo.MongoClient(
-                    host=host,
-                    port=port,
-                    tz_aware=tz_aware,
-                    document_class=dict,
-                    **kwargs
+            self.database = MongoProxy(
+                pymongo.database.Database(
+                    pymongo.MongoClient(
+                        host=host,
+                        port=port,
+                        tz_aware=tz_aware,
+                        document_class=dict,
+                        **kwargs
+                    ),
+                    db
                 ),
-                db
+                wait_time=retry_wait_time
             )
             self.collection = self.database[collection]
 
@@ -516,7 +523,7 @@ class MongoModuleStore(ModuleStoreDraftAndPublished, ModuleStoreWriteBase, Mongo
         super(MongoModuleStore, self)._drop_database()
 
         connection = self.collection.database.connection
-        connection.drop_database(self.collection.database)
+        connection.drop_database(self.collection.database.proxied_object)
         connection.close()
 
     def fill_in_run(self, course_key):
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/test_split_w_old_mongo.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/test_split_w_old_mongo.py
index d6947ed31c..637de2c782 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/test_split_w_old_mongo.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/test_split_w_old_mongo.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class SplitWMongoCourseBoostrapper(unittest.TestCase):
         """
         split_db = self.split_mongo.db
         # old_mongo doesn't give a db attr, but all of the dbs are the same
-        split_db.drop_collection(self.draft_mongo.collection)
+        split_db.drop_collection(self.draft_mongo.collection.proxied_object)
 
     def _create_item(self, category, name, data, metadata, parent_category, parent_name, draft=True, split=True):
         """
diff --git a/requirements/edx/github.txt b/requirements/edx/github.txt
index e86c3bbdee..911878eccf 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/github.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/github.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/django-pipeline.git@88ec8a011e481918fdc9d2682d4017c835acd8be#egg=django-pipeline
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/django-wiki.git@cd0b2b31997afccde519fe5b3365e61a9edb143f#egg=django-wiki
 -e git+https://github.com/edx/django-oauth2-provider.git@0.2.7-fork-edx-2#egg=django-oauth2-provider
+-e git+https://github.com/edx/MongoDBProxy.git@efe14679c9263ab491916ed960f5930127e05faf#egg=mongodb_proxy
 -e git+https://github.com/gabrielfalcao/lettuce.git@cccc3978ad2df82a78b6f9648fe2e9baddd22f88#egg=lettuce
 -e git+https://github.com/dementrock/pystache_custom.git@776973740bdaad83a3b029f96e415a7d1e8bec2f#egg=pystache_custom-dev
 -e git+https://github.com/eventbrite/zendesk.git@d53fe0e81b623f084e91776bcf6369f8b7b63879#egg=zendesk