diff --git a/lib/neography/rest.rb b/lib/neography/rest.rb
index c5c555a..71e91e4 100644
--- a/lib/neography/rest.rb
+++ b/lib/neography/rest.rb
@@ -490,6 +490,12 @@ def clean_database(sanity_check = "not_really")
           false
         end
       end
+
+      def merge_options(options)
+        merged_options = options.merge!(@authentication).merge!(@parser)
+        merged_options[:headers].merge!(@user_agent) if merged_options[:headers]
+        merged_options
+      end
             
       private
 
@@ -571,12 +577,6 @@ def evaluate_response(response)
         end
       end
 
-       def merge_options(options)
-          merged_options = options.merge!(@authentication).merge!(@parser)
-          merged_options[:headers].merge!(@user_agent) if merged_options[:headers]
-          merged_options
-       end
-
        def get(path,options={})
           evaluate_response(HTTParty.get(configuration + URI.encode(path), merge_options(options)))
        end
diff --git a/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb b/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..473d294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'spec_helper')
+
+describe Neography::Rest do
+  before(:each) do
+    @neo = Neography::Rest.new
+  end
+
+  it "should not add a content-type header if there's no existing headers" do
+    @neo.merge_options({}).should == {:parser => OjParser}
+  end
+
+  it "should add a content type if there's existing headers" do
+    @neo.merge_options({:headers => {'Content-Type' => 'foo/bar'}}).should ==
+                       {:headers => {'Content-Type' => "foo/bar",
+                                    "User-Agent"   => "Neography/#{Neography::VERSION}"},
+                                    :parser => OjParser}
+  end
+
+
+end