diff --git a/spec/database_cleaner/active_record/base_spec.rb b/spec/database_cleaner/active_record/base_spec.rb
index 6e24775..061c659 100644
--- a/spec/database_cleaner/active_record/base_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_cleaner/active_record/base_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
+require 'active_record'
 require 'database_cleaner/active_record/base'
 require 'database_cleaner/shared_strategy_spec'
 
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ module DatabaseCleaner
     end                                      
 
     describe ExampleStrategy do
-      it_should_behave_like "database cleaner strategy"
+      it_should_behave_like "a generic strategy"          
       it { expect{ subject.connection_klass }.to_not raise_error }
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/database_cleaner/couch_potato/truncation_spec.rb b/spec/database_cleaner/couch_potato/truncation_spec.rb
index 6771c13..c4e3d34 100644
--- a/spec/database_cleaner/couch_potato/truncation_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_cleaner/couch_potato/truncation_spec.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,14 @@
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../spec_helper'
 require 'database_cleaner/couch_potato/truncation'
+require 'couch_potato'
 
 module DatabaseCleaner
   module CouchPotato
 
     describe Truncation do
-      
-      #doing the require in the file root breaks autospec, doing it before(:all) just fails the specs
-      before(:all) do
-        #pend the specs if CouchPotato is missing
-        if defined?(::CouchPotato)
-          require 'couch_potato'
-        end
-      end  
-                                                 
       let (:database) { mock('database') }
+      
       before(:each) do
-        #pend the specs if CouchPotato is missing
-        pending "Please install couchdb and couch_potato before running these specs" unless defined?(::CouchPotato) 
         ::CouchPotato.stub!(:couchrest_database).and_return(database)
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/database_cleaner/generic/base_spec.rb b/spec/database_cleaner/generic/base_spec.rb
index 714fbcc..fa291a6 100644
--- a/spec/database_cleaner/generic/base_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_cleaner/generic/base_spec.rb
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ module ::DatabaseCleaner
         its (:available_strategies) { should be_empty }
       end
       
-      it { should respond_to :db  }
-      it { should respond_to :db= }
-      it { should respond_to :connection_klass }
+      it_should_behave_like "a generic strategy"          
       
       its (:db) { should == :default }
       
diff --git a/spec/database_cleaner/mongo_mapper/truncation_spec.rb b/spec/database_cleaner/mongo_mapper/truncation_spec.rb
index 1354eb9..b4f2375 100644
--- a/spec/database_cleaner/mongo_mapper/truncation_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_cleaner/mongo_mapper/truncation_spec.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../spec_helper'
 require 'database_cleaner/mongo_mapper/truncation'
+require 'mongo_mapper'
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/mongo_examples'
 
 module DatabaseCleaner
   module MongoMapper
@@ -8,20 +10,12 @@ module DatabaseCleaner
       
       #doing this in the file root breaks autospec, doing it before(:all) just fails the specs
       before(:all) do
-        #pend the specs if MongoMapper is missing
-        if defined?(::MongoMapper) && defined?(::Mongo)
-          require 'mongo_mapper'
-          require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/mongo_examples'
-          
           ::MongoMapper.connection = ::Mongo::Connection.new('127.0.0.1')
           @test_db = 'database_cleaner_specs'
           ::MongoMapper.database = @test_db
-        end
       end
       
       before(:each) do
-        #make these specs pend if orm not installed
-        pending "Please install MongoMapper + Mongo to run these specs" unless defined?(::MongoMapper) && defined?(::Mongo)
         ::MongoMapper.connection.drop_database(@test_db)
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/database_cleaner/shared_strategy_spec.rb b/spec/database_cleaner/shared_strategy_spec.rb
index 3603c53..4147bb6 100644
--- a/spec/database_cleaner/shared_strategy_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_cleaner/shared_strategy_spec.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
-shared_examples_for "database cleaner strategy" do
+shared_examples_for "a generic strategy" do
   it { should respond_to :db  }
   it { should respond_to :db= }
   it { should respond_to :connection_klass }
+end
+
+shared_examples_for "a generic truncation strategy" do
+  it { should respond_to :start }
+  it { should respond_to :clean }
+end
+
+shared_examples_for "a generic transaction strategy" do
+  it { should respond_to :start }
+  it { should respond_to :clean }
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index f6884a1..6d496f4 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 require 'rubygems'
 require 'spec'
-require 'active_record'
+#require 'active_record'
 #require 'mongo_mapper'
 $:.unshift(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../lib')
 require 'database_cleaner'
 
 Spec::Runner.configure do |config|
-  
+ 
 end
 
 alias running lambda