diff --git a/src/scraper/exhaustive.py b/src/scraper/exhaustive.py
index 74ff47d..aeb007f 100644
--- a/src/scraper/exhaustive.py
+++ b/src/scraper/exhaustive.py
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ class ExhaustiveScraper:
 
         try:
             import anthropic
+            logger.info("Generating DDG queries with Claude", topic=self.topic)
             client = anthropic.AsyncAnthropic(api_key=settings.anthropic_api_key)
             prompt = (
                 f'Generate exactly 8 DuckDuckGo search queries to research: "{self.topic}"\n\n'
@@ -207,7 +208,8 @@ class ExhaustiveScraper:
             logger.info("DDG queries generated by Claude", queries=queries)
             return queries
         except Exception as e:
-            logger.warning("Claude query generation failed, using fallback", error=str(e))
+            logger.warning("Claude query generation failed, using fallback",
+                           error=str(e), error_type=type(e).__name__)
             return fallback
 
     async def _seed_duckduckgo(self):
@@ -232,7 +234,7 @@ class ExhaustiveScraper:
                 logger.info("DDG query ok", query=query, results=len(results))
             except Exception as e:
                 logger.warning("DDG query failed", query=query, error=str(e))
-            await asyncio.sleep(settings.request_delay * 2)
+            await asyncio.sleep(random.uniform(3, 8))
 
     async def _seed_wikipedia(self):
         """Search Wikipedia API for correct article URLs.