diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/mixin/snippets.py b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/mixin/snippets.py
index 432da0302fb..9c5093155ce 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/mixin/snippets.py
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/mixin/snippets.py
@@ -1,17 +1,21 @@
 from django.conf import settings
 from wagtail.core.models import Locale
 
-DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)
-
 
 class LocalizedSnippet():
+
+    DEFAULT_LOCALE = None
+
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        if self.DEFAULT_LOCALE is None:
+            self.DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)
 
     @property
     def original(self):
+        DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=self.DEFAULT_LOCALE)
+
         try:
             return self.get_translation(DEFAULT_LOCALE)
         except AttributeError:
             return self
-
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
index e45e274d87e..4dbd132e842 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
@@ -43,16 +43,13 @@
     ('Needs Improvement', 'Needs Improvement'),
     ('Bad', 'Bad')
 ]
-DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE = settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
-DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE)
-DEFAULT_LOCALE_ID = DEFAULT_LOCALE.id
 
 
 def get_language_code_from_request(request):
     """
     Accepts a request. Returns a language code (string) if there is one. Falls back to English.
     """
-    language_code = DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE
+    language_code = settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
     if hasattr(request, 'LANGUAGE_CODE'):
         language_code = request.LANGUAGE_CODE
     return language_code
@@ -64,6 +61,9 @@ def get_categories_for_locale(language_code):
     with their localized counterpart, where possible, so that we don't
     end up with an incomplete category list due to missing locale records.
     """
+    DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE = settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
+    DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE)
+
     default_locale_list = BuyersGuideProductCategory.objects.filter(
         hidden=False,
         locale=DEFAULT_LOCALE,
@@ -1490,6 +1490,9 @@ def categories_page(self, request, slug):
         locale_id = Locale.objects.get(language_code=language_code).id
         slug = slugify(slug)
 
+        DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)
+        DEFAULT_LOCALE_ID = DEFAULT_LOCALE.id
+
         # because we may be working with localized content, and the slug
         # will always be our english slug, we need to find the english
         # category first, and then find its corresponding localized version