diff --git a/MySQLConnector/Connection.cs b/MySQLConnector/Connection.cs
index d293a6d..df0fdd4 100644
--- a/MySQLConnector/Connection.cs
+++ b/MySQLConnector/Connection.cs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ namespace FLocal.MySQLConnector {
 
 	public class Connection : IDBConnection {
 
-		private IDBTraits traits;
+		internal readonly IDBTraits traits;
 
 		private DbConnection connection;
 		private string connectionString;
diff --git a/MySQLConnector/IDBTraits.cs b/MySQLConnector/IDBTraits.cs
index b9a6d1a..e1c4f64 100644
--- a/MySQLConnector/IDBTraits.cs
+++ b/MySQLConnector/IDBTraits.cs
@@ -16,5 +16,7 @@ namespace FLocal.MySQLConnector {
 
 		string markParam(string param);
 
+		bool supportsIsolationLevel();
+
 	}
 }
diff --git a/MySQLConnector/MySQLDBTraits.cs b/MySQLConnector/MySQLDBTraits.cs
index 7cb10ef..7333f7f 100644
--- a/MySQLConnector/MySQLDBTraits.cs
+++ b/MySQLConnector/MySQLDBTraits.cs
@@ -27,5 +27,10 @@ namespace FLocal.MySQLConnector {
 			return "@" + param;
 		}
 
+		public bool supportsIsolationLevel() {
+			//for some reason, call to BeginTransaction with IsolationLevel set fails somewhere deep in mysql library
+			return false;
+		}
+
 	}
 }
diff --git a/MySQLConnector/PostgresDBTraits.cs b/MySQLConnector/PostgresDBTraits.cs
index a11120d..067aef1 100644
--- a/MySQLConnector/PostgresDBTraits.cs
+++ b/MySQLConnector/PostgresDBTraits.cs
@@ -35,5 +35,9 @@ namespace FLocal.MySQLConnector {
 			return ":" + param;
 		}
 
+		public bool supportsIsolationLevel() {
+			return true;
+		}
+
 	}
 }
diff --git a/MySQLConnector/Transaction.cs b/MySQLConnector/Transaction.cs
index 5d2d224..dbd17a3 100644
--- a/MySQLConnector/Transaction.cs
+++ b/MySQLConnector/Transaction.cs
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@ namespace FLocal.MySQLConnector {
 		public Transaction(Connection connection, System.Data.IsolationLevel iso) : base() {
 			this.sqlconnection = connection.createConnection();
 			try {
-				//for some reason, call to BeginTransaction with IsolationLevel set fails somewhere deep in mysql library
-				this.sqltransaction = this.sqlconnection.BeginTransaction();
+				if(connection.traits.supportsIsolationLevel()) {
+					this.sqltransaction = this.sqlconnection.BeginTransaction(iso);
+				} else {
+					this.sqltransaction = this.sqlconnection.BeginTransaction();
+				}
 			} catch(Exception e) {
 				this.close();
 				throw e;