diff --git a/rollbar/lib/transforms/shortener.py b/rollbar/lib/transforms/shortener.py
index 8685429d..ae8d810b 100644
--- a/rollbar/lib/transforms/shortener.py
+++ b/rollbar/lib/transforms/shortener.py
@@ -82,7 +82,9 @@ def traverse_dict(self, d):
         d = self._shorten_mapping(d, max_size)
         for k, v in d.items():
             if isinstance(v, dict):
-                self.traverse_dict(v)
+                max_size = self._get_max_size(v)
+                d[k] = self._shorten_mapping(v, max_size)
+                self.traverse_dict(d[k])
             else:
                 d[k] = self._shorten(v)
         return d