diff --git a/Dockerfile.dev b/Dockerfile.dev
index 9c6ecee..44e5023 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.dev
+++ b/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
 # Sets the default shell to bash
 ENV SHELL /bin/bash
 
+RUN set -ex \
+    && apt update \
+    && apt-get install gcc python3-dev --yes
+
 # Upgrades pip
 RUN pip install -U pip setuptools
 
diff --git a/containers/localstack/init.sh b/containers/localstack/init.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..332fd90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/containers/localstack/init.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Note that this file needs to have the executable bit set for it to work with later localstack implementations.
+
+export DEFAULT_REGION=us-west-2
+
+create_sqs() {
+    QUEUE_NAME="$1"
+    TIMEOUT=${2:-60}
+    DL_QUEUE_URL=$(awslocal sqs create-queue --queue-name "dl-$QUEUE_NAME" --query QueueUrl --output text)
+    echo ">>> Created $DL_QUEUE_URL queue!"
+    DL_QUEUE_ARN=$(awslocal sqs get-queue-attributes --queue-url "$DL_QUEUE_URL" --attribute-names QueueArn --query Attributes.QueueArn --output text)
+    awslocal sqs create-queue --queue-name "$QUEUE_NAME" --attributes '{
+        "RedrivePolicy": "{\"deadLetterTargetArn\": \"'"$DL_QUEUE_ARN"'\",\"maxReceiveCount\":\"3\"}",
+        "VisibilityTimeout": "'"$TIMEOUT"'"
+    }'
+}
+
+# Create SQS queues
+create_sqs testing
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py b/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
index 6c0ba50..cd4ac71 100644
--- a/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
+++ b/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import copy
+
 from boto3 import Session
 from botocore.client import ClientError
 
@@ -78,15 +80,15 @@ class Sqs(Broker):
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_connection(list_key: str = None) -> Session:
-        config = Conf.SQS
-        if "aws_region" in config:
-            config["region_name"] = config["aws_region"]
-            del config["aws_region"]
+        config_cloned = copy.deepcopy(Conf.SQS)
+        if "aws_region" in config_cloned:
+            config_cloned["region_name"] = config_cloned["aws_region"]
+            del config_cloned["aws_region"]
 
-        if "receive_message_wait_time_seconds" in config:
-            del config["receive_message_wait_time_seconds"]
+        if "receive_message_wait_time_seconds" in config_cloned:
+            del config_cloned["receive_message_wait_time_seconds"]
 
-        return Session(**config)
+        return Session(**config_cloned)
 
     def get_queue(self):
         self.sqs = self.connection.resource("sqs")
diff --git a/django_q/tests/test_brokers.py b/django_q/tests/test_brokers.py
index d253f9b..661d0f5 100644
--- a/django_q/tests/test_brokers.py
+++ b/django_q/tests/test_brokers.py
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ def test_ironmq(monkeypatch):
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     not os.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"), reason="requires AWS credentials"
 )
-def canceled_sqs(monkeypatch):
+def test_sqs(monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         Conf,
         "SQS",
@@ -132,11 +132,13 @@ def canceled_sqs(monkeypatch):
             "aws_region": os.getenv("AWS_REGION"),
             "aws_access_key_id": os.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"),
             "aws_secret_access_key": os.getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"),
-            "receive_message_wait_time_seconds": 20,
+            "receive_message_wait_time_seconds": 5,
         },
     )
     # check broker
-    broker = get_broker(list_key=uuid()[0])
+    broker = get_broker(list_key="testing")
+    assert "receive_message_wait_time_seconds" in Conf.SQS
+    assert "aws_region" in Conf.SQS
     assert broker.ping() is True
     assert broker.info() is not None
     assert broker.queue_size() == 0
@@ -173,7 +175,7 @@ def canceled_sqs(monkeypatch):
     broker.enqueue("test")
     while task is None:
         task = broker.dequeue()[0]
-    broker.fail(task[0])
+    broker.fail(task[0][0])
     # bulk test
     for _ in range(10):
         broker.enqueue("test")
diff --git a/test-services-docker-compose.yaml b/test-services-docker-compose.yaml
index 5f8818f..c0b48d6 100644
--- a/test-services-docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/test-services-docker-compose.yaml
@@ -13,15 +13,41 @@ services:
     networks:
       - main
 
+  aws:
+    container_name: aws
+    image: localstack/localstack:3.4.0
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:4566:4566"            # LocalStack Gateway
+      - "127.0.0.1:4510-4559:4510-4559"  # External services port range
+    environment:
+      AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: ${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION:-us-west-2}
+      DEFAULT_REGION: ${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION:-us-west-2}
+      SQS_ENDPOINT_STRATEGY: path
+      SERVICES: sqs
+      LOCALSTACK_HOST: aws
+      DEBUG: 1
+      LS_LOG: trace
+    volumes:
+      - ./containers/localstack:/etc/localstack/init/ready.d
+    networks:
+      - main
+
   django-q2:
     build:
       dockerfile: ./Dockerfile.dev
       context: .
+    environment:
+      AWS_ENDPOINT_URL: http://aws:4566
+      AWS_REGION: ${AWS_REGION:-us-west-2}
+      AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:-test}
+      AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:-test}
+      AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: ${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION:-us-west-2}
     volumes:
       - .:/app
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - mongo
+      - aws
     networks:
       - main