diff --git a/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxy.java b/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxy.java
index a2ec22bc2..f2f974867 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxy.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.math.BigInteger;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.text.NumberFormat;
 import java.util.AbstractMap;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -385,7 +386,7 @@ public void close() throws ReaperException {
   }
 
   /**
-   * NOTICE: This code is copied from StackOverflow answer:
+   * NOTICE: This code is loosely based on StackOverflow answer:
    * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6701948/efficient-way-to-compare-version-strings-in-java
    *
    * Compares two version strings.
@@ -402,24 +403,39 @@ public void close() throws ReaperException {
    */
   public static Integer versionCompare(String str1, String str2) throws ReaperException {
     try {
-      str1 = str1.split(" ")[0].replaceAll("[^0-9.]", "");
-      str2 = str2.split(" ")[0].replaceAll("[^0-9.]", "");;
-      String[] vals1 = str1.split("\\.");
-      String[] vals2 = str2.split("\\.");
+      str1 = str1.split(" ")[0].replaceAll("[-_~]", ".");
+      str2 = str2.split(" ")[0].replaceAll("[-_~]", ".");
+      String[] parts1 = str1.split("\\.");
+      String[] parts2 = str2.split("\\.");
       int i = 0;
       // set index to first non-equal ordinal or length of shortest version string
-      while (i < vals1.length && i < vals2.length && vals1[i].equals(vals2[i])) {
-        i++;
+      while (i < parts1.length && i < parts2.length) {
+        try {
+          Integer.parseInt(parts1[i]);
+          Integer.parseInt(parts2[i]);
+        } catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
+          if (i == 0) {
+            throw ex; // just comparing two non-version strings should fail
+          }
+          // first non integer part, so let's just stop comparison here and ignore this part
+          i--;
+          break;
+        }
+        if (parts1[i].equals(parts2[i])) {
+          i++;
+          continue;
+        }
+        break;
       }
       // compare first non-equal ordinal number
-      if (i < vals1.length && i < vals2.length) {
-        int diff = Integer.valueOf(vals1[i]).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(vals2[i]));
+      if (i < parts1.length && i < parts2.length) {
+        int diff = Integer.valueOf(parts1[i]).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(parts2[i]));
         return Integer.signum(diff);
       }
       // the strings are equal or one string is a substring of the other
       // e.g. "1.2.3" = "1.2.3" or "1.2.3" < "1.2.3.4"
       else {
-        return Integer.signum(vals1.length - vals2.length);
+        return Integer.signum(parts1.length - parts2.length);
       }
     } catch (Exception ex) {
       LOG.error("failed comparing strings for versions: '{}' '{}'", str1, str2);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxyTest.java b/src/test/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxyTest.java
index d09dd49ea..5047e41bb 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxyTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/spotify/reaper/cassandra/JmxProxyTest.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ public void testVersionCompare() throws ReaperException {
     assertEquals(Integer.valueOf(1), JmxProxy.versionCompare("99.0.0", "9.0"));
     assertEquals(Integer.valueOf(1), JmxProxy.versionCompare("99.0.10", "99.0.1"));
     assertEquals(Integer.valueOf(-1), JmxProxy.versionCompare("99.0.10~1", "99.0.10~2"));
+    assertEquals(Integer.valueOf(0), JmxProxy.versionCompare("1.2.18-1~1.2.15.219.gec18fb4.9",
+                                                             "1.2.18-1~1.2.15.219.gec17fb4.10"));
   }
 
 }