diff --git a/novus/api/gateway/gateway.py b/novus/api/gateway/gateway.py
index 24599956..fc8d48d5 100644
--- a/novus/api/gateway/gateway.py
+++ b/novus/api/gateway/gateway.py
@@ -250,6 +250,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.sequence: int | None = None
         self.resume_url = self.ws_url
         self.session_id = None
+        self.heartbeat_interval = 60.0
 
         # Temporarily cached data for combining requests
         self.chunk_counter: dict[str, int] = {}  # nonce: req_counter
@@ -593,9 +594,10 @@ async def _connect(
         log.debug("[%s] Connected to gateway - %s", self.shard_id, dump(data))
 
         # Start heartbeat
-        heartbeat_interval = data["heartbeat_interval"]
+        self.heartbeat_interval = data["heartbeat_interval"]
         self.heartbeat_task = asyncio.create_task(
-            self.heartbeat(heartbeat_interval, jitter=not resume)
+            self.heartbeat(self.heartbeat_interval, jitter=not resume),
+            name="Heartbeat for shard %s" % self.shard_id,
         )
 
         # Send identify or resume
@@ -673,7 +675,8 @@ async def heartbeat(
             self,
             heartbeat_interval: int | float,
             *,
-            jitter: bool = False) -> None:
+            jitter: bool = False,
+            skip_first_wait: bool = False) -> None:
         """
         Send heartbeats to Discord. This implements a forever loop, so the
         method should be created as a task.
@@ -699,7 +702,9 @@ async def heartbeat(
             )
         while True:
             try:
-                await asyncio.sleep(wait / 1_000)
+                if not skip_first_wait:
+                    await asyncio.sleep(wait / 1_000)
+                skip_first_wait = False
             except asyncio.CancelledError:
                 log.debug("[%s] Heartbeat has been cancelled", self.shard_id)
                 return
@@ -860,10 +865,19 @@ async def message_handler(self) -> None:
         async for opcode, event_name, sequence, message in self.messages():
             match opcode:
 
-                # Ignore heartbeats
+                # Ignore heartbeat acks
                 case GatewayOpcode.heartbeat_ack:
                     self.heartbeat_received.set()
 
+                # Sometimes Discord may ask for heartbeats explicitly
+                case GatewayOpcode.heartbeat:
+                    if self.heartbeat_task:
+                        self.heartbeat_task.cancel()
+                    self.heartbeat_task = asyncio.create_task(
+                        self.heartbeat(self.heartbeat_interval, skip_first_wait=True),
+                        name="Heartbeat for shard %s" % self.shard_id,
+                    )
+
                 # Deal with dispatch
                 case GatewayOpcode.dispatch:
                     event_name = cast(str, event_name)
@@ -902,4 +916,4 @@ async def message_handler(self) -> None:
 
                 # Everything else
                 case _:
-                    print("Failed to deal with gateway message %s" % dump(message))
+                    log.warning("Failed to deal with gateway message %s" % dump(message))