diff --git a/data/model.py b/data/model.py
index 336fc1f32..66cb37821 100644
--- a/data/model.py
+++ b/data/model.py
@@ -985,7 +985,9 @@ def garbage_collect_repository(namespace_name, repository_name):
 
   referenced_anscestors = set()
   for tag in tag_query:
-    ancestor_list = [int(img) for img in tag.image.ancestors.split('/')[1:-1]]
+    # The anscestor list is in the format '/1/2/3/', extract just the ids
+    anscestor_id_strings = tag.image.ancestors.split('/')[1:-1]
+    ancestor_list = [int(img_id_str) for img_id_str in anscestor_id_strings]
     referenced_anscestors = referenced_anscestors.union(set(ancestor_list))
     referenced_anscestors.add(tag.image.id)
 
@@ -999,8 +1001,8 @@ def garbage_collect_repository(namespace_name, repository_name):
     image_to_remove = all_images[image_id_to_remove]
     image_path = store.image_path(namespace_name, repository_name,
                                        image_to_remove.docker_image_id)
-    logger.debug('Recursively deleting image path: %s' % image_path)
     image_to_remove.delete_instance()
+    logger.debug('Deleting image storage: %s' % image_path)
     store.remove(image_path)
 
   return len(to_remove)