diff --git a/twython/twython.py b/twython/twython.py
index 14b5806..d8db763 100644
--- a/twython/twython.py
+++ b/twython/twython.py
@@ -93,6 +93,18 @@ class APILimit(TwythonError):
     def __str__(self):
         return repr(self.msg)
 
+class RateLimitError(TwythonError):
+    """
+        Raised when you've hit a rate limit.  retry_wait_seconds is the number of seconds to
+        wait before trying again.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, msg, retry_wait_seconds, error_code):
+        self.retry_wait_seconds = int(retry_wait_seconds)
+        TwythonError.__init__(self, msg, error_code)
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return repr(self.msg)
+
 
 class AuthError(TwythonError):
     """
@@ -308,6 +320,14 @@ class Twython(object):
         searchURL = Twython.constructApiURL("http://search.twitter.com/search.json", kwargs)
         try:
             resp, content = self.client.request(searchURL, "GET", headers = self.headers)
+
+            if int(resp.status) == 420:
+                retry_wait_seconds = resp['retry-after']
+                raise RateLimitError("getSearchTimeline() is being rate limited.  Retry after %s seconds." %
+                                     retry_wait_seconds,
+                                     retry_wait_seconds,
+                                     resp.status)
+
             return simplejson.loads(content.decode('utf-8'))
         except HTTPError, e:
             raise TwythonError("getSearchTimeline() failed with a %s error code." % `e.code`, e.code)