diff --git a/minode/connection.py b/minode/connection.py
index dccfddc..cd10e0c 100644
--- a/minode/connection.py
+++ b/minode/connection.py
@@ -79,9 +79,11 @@ class ConnectionBase(threading.Thread):
         self.s.settimeout(0)
         if not self.server:
             if self.network == 'ip':
+                version_kwargs = (
+                    {'services': 1} if self.host.endswith('.onion') else {})
                 self.send_queue.put(message.Version(
                     ('127.0.0.1' if shared.socks_proxy else self.host),
-                    self.port))
+                    self.port, **version_kwargs))
             else:
                 self.send_queue.put(message.Version('127.0.0.1', 7656))
         while True:
@@ -260,8 +262,11 @@ class ConnectionBase(threading.Thread):
             'Established Bitmessage protocol connection to %s:%s',
             self.host_print, self.port)
         self.on_connection_fully_established_scheduled = False
-        if self.remote_version.services & 2 and self.network == 'ip':
-            self._do_tls_handshake()  # NODE_SSL
+        if (  # NODE_SSL
+            self.remote_version.services & 2 and self.network == 'ip'
+            and not self.host.endswith('.onion')
+        ):
+            self._do_tls_handshake()
 
         addr = {
             structure.NetAddr(c.remote_version.services, c.host, c.port)