diff --git a/src/cxoTransform.c b/src/cxoTransform.c
index d6cbcd7d..e29b413c 100644
--- a/src/cxoTransform.c
+++ b/src/cxoTransform.c
@@ -694,7 +694,12 @@ PyObject *cxoTransform_toPython(cxoTransformNum transformNum,
         case CXO_TRANSFORM_NATIVE_FLOAT:
             return PyFloat_FromDouble(dbValue->asFloat);
         case CXO_TRANSFORM_NATIVE_INT:
-            return PyInt_FromLong((long) dbValue->asInt64);
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
+            if (sizeof(long) == 8 || (dbValue->asInt64 <= INT_MAX &&
+                    dbValue->asInt64 >= -INT_MAX))
+                return PyInt_FromLong((long) dbValue->asInt64);
+#endif
+            return PyLong_FromLongLong(dbValue->asInt64);
         case CXO_TRANSFORM_DECIMAL:
         case CXO_TRANSFORM_INT:
         case CXO_TRANSFORM_FLOAT:
diff --git a/test/NumberVar.py b/test/NumberVar.py
index a297b430..0d84e83c 100644
--- a/test/NumberVar.py
+++ b/test/NumberVar.py
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
 
 class TestNumberVar(BaseTestCase):
 
+    def outputTypeHandlerNativeInt(self, cursor, name, defaultType, size,
+            precision, scale):
+        return cursor.var(cx_Oracle.NATIVE_INT, arraysize=cursor.arraysize)
+
     def outputTypeHandlerDecimal(self, cursor, name, defaultType, size,
             precision, scale):
         if defaultType == cx_Oracle.NUMBER:
@@ -380,3 +384,11 @@ def testBindNativeFloat(self):
         value, = self.cursor.fetchone()
         self.assertEqual(str(value), str(float("NaN")))
 
+    def testFetchNativeInt(self):
+        "test fetching numbers as native integers"
+        self.cursor.outputtypehandler = self.outputTypeHandlerNativeInt
+        for value in (1, 2 ** 31, 2 ** 63 - 1, -1, -2 ** 31, -2 ** 63 + 1):
+            self.cursor.execute("select :1 from dual", [str(value)])
+            fetchedValue, = self.cursor.fetchone()
+            self.assertEqual(value, fetchedValue)
+