diff --git a/sandbox_starcheck b/sandbox_starcheck
index 8e0bd985..03114591 100755
--- a/sandbox_starcheck
+++ b/sandbox_starcheck
@@ -1,10 +1,28 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 DIR=`dirname $0`
+export PYTHONPATH=$DIR:$PYTHONPATH
+
 PYTHON_EXE=`which python`
 PYTHON_DIR=`dirname $PYTHON_EXE`
 export PYTHONHOME=`dirname $PYTHON_DIR`
-export PYTHONPATH=$DIR:$PYTHONPATH
+
+# Check for skare3 perl
+if [[ ! -f ${PYTHONHOME}/bin/perl ]];
+then
+    echo "skare3 perl not installed. conda install perl perl-core-deps perl-ska-classic"
+    exit 1
+fi
+# Check for perl deps
+perl -e "use IO::All; use Time::DayOfYear;"
+if [[ $? -ne 0 ]];
+then
+    echo "****"
+    echo "Missing starcheck ska3 perl dependencies.  Please 'conda install perl perl-core-deps perl-ska-classic'"
+    echo "****"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY=`mktemp -d -t starcheck_inline.XXXXXX` || exit 1
 export PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY
 perl -I ${DIR}/starcheck/src/lib ${DIR}/starcheck/src/starcheck.pl "$@"
diff --git a/starcheck/src/starcheck b/starcheck/src/starcheck
index 92ce1895..444181a8 100755
--- a/starcheck/src/starcheck
+++ b/starcheck/src/starcheck
@@ -9,6 +9,23 @@
 # for flight starcheck
 unset PYTHONPATH
 export PYTHONHOME=$SKA
+
+# Check for skare3 perl
+if [[ ! -f ${PYTHONHOME}/bin/perl ]];
+then
+    echo "skare3 perl not installed. conda install perl perl-core-deps perl-ska-classic"
+    exit 1
+fi
+# Check for perl deps
+perl -e "use IO::All; use Time::DayOfYear;"
+if [[ $? -ne 0 ]];
+then
+    echo "****"
+    echo "Missing starcheck ska3 perl dependencies.  Please 'conda install perl perl-core-deps perl-ska-classic'"
+    echo "****"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY=`mktemp -d -t starcheck_inline.XXXXXX` || exit 1
 export PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY
 STARCHECK=`python -c 'import starcheck; print(starcheck.__path__[0])'`