diff --git a/lib/amq/uri.rb b/lib/amq/uri.rb
index f8fbb2e..6515f34 100644
--- a/lib/amq/uri.rb
+++ b/lib/amq/uri.rb
@@ -8,12 +8,23 @@ class URI
     # @private
     AMQP_PORTS = {"amqp" => 5672, "amqps" => 5671}.freeze
 
+    DEFAULTS = {
+      heartbeat: nil,
+      connection_timeout: nil,
+      channel_max: nil,
+      auth_mechanism: [],
+      verify: false,
+      fail_if_no_peer_cert: false,
+      cacertfile: nil,
+      certfile: nil,
+      keyfile: nil
+    }.freeze
 
     def self.parse(connection_string)
       uri = ::URI.parse(connection_string)
       raise ArgumentError.new("Connection URI must use amqp or amqps schema (example: amqp://bus.megacorp.internal:5766), learn more at http://bit.ly/ks8MXK") unless %w{amqp amqps}.include?(uri.scheme)
 
-      opts = {}
+      opts = DEFAULTS.dup
 
       opts[:scheme] = uri.scheme
       opts[:user]   = ::CGI::unescape(uri.user) if uri.user
@@ -26,8 +37,28 @@ def self.parse(connection_string)
         opts[:vhost] = ::CGI::unescape($1)
       end
 
+      if uri.query
+        query_params = CGI::parse(uri.query)
+
+        normalized_query_params = Hash[query_params.map { |param, value| [param, value.one? ? value.first : value] }]
+
+        opts[:heartbeat] = normalized_query_params["heartbeat"].to_i
+        opts[:connection_timeout] = normalized_query_params["connection_timeout"].to_i
+        opts[:channel_max] = normalized_query_params["channel_max"].to_i
+        opts[:auth_mechanism] = normalized_query_params["auth_mechanism"]
+
+        %w(verify fail_if_no_peer_cert cacertfile certfile keyfile).each do |ssl_option|
+          if normalized_query_params[ssl_option] && uri.scheme == "amqp"
+            raise ArgumentError.new("Only of use for the amqps scheme")
+          else
+            opts[ssl_option.to_sym] = normalized_query_params[ssl_option]
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
       opts
     end
+
     def self.parse_amqp_url(s)
       parse(s)
     end
diff --git a/spec/amq/uri_parsing_spec.rb b/spec/amq/uri_parsing_spec.rb
index cbb8511..b624c36 100644
--- a/spec/amq/uri_parsing_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/amq/uri_parsing_spec.rb
@@ -92,4 +92,80 @@
       expect(val[:vhost]).to be_nil # in this case, default / will be used
     end
   end
+
+  subject { described_class.parse(uri) }
+
+  context "schema 'amqp'" do
+    context "query parameters" do
+      context "present" do
+        let(:uri) { "amqp://rabbitmq?heartbeat=10&connection_timeout=100&channel_max=1000&auth_mechanism=plain&auth_mechanism=amqplain" }
+
+        specify "parses parameters" do
+          expect(subject[:heartbeat]).to eq(10)
+          expect(subject[:connection_timeout]).to eq(100)
+          expect(subject[:channel_max]).to eq(1000)
+          expect(subject[:auth_mechanism]).to eq(["plain", "amqplain"])
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "absent" do
+        let(:uri) { "amqp://rabbitmq" }
+
+        it "fallbacks to defaults" do
+          expect(subject[:heartbeat]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:connection_timeout]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:channel_max]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:auth_mechanism]).to be_empty
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "tls parameters" do
+        %w(verify fail_if_no_peer_cert cacertfile certfile keyfile).each do |tls_param|
+          describe "'verify'" do
+            let(:uri) { "amqp://rabbitmq?#{tls_param}=true" }
+
+            it "raises ArgumentError" do
+              expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, /Only of use for the amqps scheme/)
+            end
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "schema 'amqps'" do
+    context "query parameters" do
+      context "present" do
+        let(:uri) { "amqps://rabbitmq?heartbeat=10&connection_timeout=100&channel_max=1000&auth_mechanism=plain&auth_mechanism=amqplain&verify=true&fail_if_no_peer_cert=true&cacertfile=/examples/tls/cacert.pem&certfile=/examples/tls/client_cert.pem&keyfile=/examples/tls/client_key.pem" }
+
+        it "parses parameters" do
+          expect(subject[:heartbeat]).to eq(10)
+          expect(subject[:connection_timeout]).to eq(100)
+          expect(subject[:channel_max]).to eq(1000)
+          expect(subject[:auth_mechanism]).to eq(["plain", "amqplain"])
+          expect(subject[:verify]).to be_truthy
+          expect(subject[:fail_if_no_peer_cert]).to be_truthy
+          expect(subject[:cacertfile]).to eq("/examples/tls/cacert.pem")
+          expect(subject[:certfile]).to eq("/examples/tls/client_cert.pem")
+          expect(subject[:keyfile]).to eq("/examples/tls/client_key.pem")
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "absent" do
+        let(:uri) { "amqps://rabbitmq" }
+
+        it "fallbacks to defaults" do
+          expect(subject[:heartbeat]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:connection_timeout]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:channel_max]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:auth_mechanism]).to be_empty
+          expect(subject[:verify]).to be_falsey
+          expect(subject[:fail_if_no_peer_cert]).to be_falsey
+          expect(subject[:cacertfile]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:certfile]).to be_nil
+          expect(subject[:keyfile]).to be_nil
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end