diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 4a72420b4..4b2110004 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ from util.saas.exceptionlog import Sentry
 from util.names import urn_generator
 from util.config.oauth import GoogleOAuthConfig, GithubOAuthConfig, GitLabOAuthConfig
 from util.security.signing import Signer
-from util.saas.cloudwatch import send_cloudwatch
+from util.saas.cloudwatch import start_cloudwatch_sender
 from util.saas.metricqueue import MetricQueue
 from util.config.provider import FileConfigProvider, TestConfigProvider
 from util.config.configutil import generate_secret_key
@@ -125,7 +125,11 @@ userevents = UserEventsBuilderModule(app)
 superusers = SuperUserManager(app)
 signer = Signer(app, OVERRIDE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY)
 metric_queue = MetricQueue()
-send_cloudwatch(metric_queue, app)
+
+try:
+  start_cloudwatch_sender(metric_queue, app)
+except KeyError:
+  logger.debug('Cloudwatch not configured')
 
 tf = app.config['DB_TRANSACTION_FACTORY']
 
diff --git a/util/saas/cloudwatch.py b/util/saas/cloudwatch.py
index 16f93a558..ba8f01da0 100644
--- a/util/saas/cloudwatch.py
+++ b/util/saas/cloudwatch.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from threading import Thread
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-def send_cloudwatch(metrics, app):
+def start_cloudwatch_sender(metrics, app):
   """
   Starts sending from metrics to a new CloudWatchSender.
   """
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class CloudWatchSender(Thread):
       connection = boto.connect_cloudwatch(self._aws_access_key, self._aws_secret_key)
     except:
       logger.exception('Failed to connect to CloudWatch.')
+    self._metrics.enable()
 
     while True:
       put_metric_args, kwargs = self._metrics.get()
diff --git a/util/saas/metricqueue.py b/util/saas/metricqueue.py
index f9e8efe13..d6fc4338e 100644
--- a/util/saas/metricqueue.py
+++ b/util/saas/metricqueue.py
@@ -11,9 +11,15 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 class MetricQueue(object):
   def __init__(self):
-    self._queue = Queue(10000)
+    self._queue = None
+
+  def enable(self, maxsize=10000):
+    self._queue = Queue(maxsize)
 
   def put(self, *args, **kwargs):
+    if self._queue is None:
+      logging.debug('No metric queue: %s %s' %args, kwargs)
+      return
     try:
       self._queue.put_nowait((args, kwargs))
     except Full: