diff --git a/pandas/core/datetools.py b/pandas/core/datetools.py
index 315f1b2d3ebbe..14eb839fb386c 100644
--- a/pandas/core/datetools.py
+++ b/pandas/core/datetools.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
                         'install version 1.5!')
 except ImportError: # pragma: no cover
     print 'Please install python-dateutil via easy_install or some method!'
+    raise # otherwise a 2nd import won't show the message
 
 import calendar
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b75a41647234f..6a17569ba0987 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,10 +24,13 @@
     except ImportError:
         raise ImportError('require setuptools/distribute for Py3k')
     setuptools_args = {'use_2to3': True,
-                       'zip_safe': False,}
+                       'zip_safe': False,
+                       'install_requires': ['python-dateutil > 2','numpy'],
+                        }
 else:
-    setuptools_args = {}
-
+    setuptools_args = {
+        'install_requires': ['python-dateutil < 2','numpy'],
+    }
 
 import numpy as np