diff --git a/deletionwatcher.py b/deletionwatcher.py
index 45bf2ee7f69..7d38bb7b157 100644
--- a/deletionwatcher.py
+++ b/deletionwatcher.py
@@ -167,7 +167,13 @@ def _check_batch(saved):
             uri = get_se_api_url_for_route("posts/{}".format(ids))
             params = get_se_api_default_params_questions_answers_posts_add_site(site)
             res = requests.get(uri, params=params, timeout=GlobalVars.default_requests_timeout)
-            json = res.json()
+            try:
+                json = res.json()
+            except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+                log('warning',
+                    'DeletionWatcher API request received invalid JSON in response (code {})'.format(res.status_code))
+                log('warning', res.text)
+                continue
 
             if 'backoff' in json:
                 DeletionWatcher.next_request_time = time.time() + json['backoff']
@@ -176,8 +182,7 @@ def _check_batch(saved):
                 log('warning',
                     'DeletionWatcher API request received no items in response (code {})'.format(res.status_code))
                 log('warning', res.text)
-                # This really should do a better job of recovery, as we could retry and/or go to the next site.
-                return
+                continue
 
             for post in json['items']:
                 compare_date = post["last_edit_date"] if "last_edit_date" in post else post["creation_date"]