diff --git a/pandas/io/pytables.py b/pandas/io/pytables.py
index da4077165add2..be11732d7b3a2 100644
--- a/pandas/io/pytables.py
+++ b/pandas/io/pytables.py
@@ -1207,13 +1207,20 @@ def set_atom(self, block, existing_col, min_itemsize, nan_rep, **kwargs):
 
         self.values = list(block.items)
         dtype = block.dtype.name
-        inferred_type = lib.infer_dtype(block.values.ravel())
+        rvalues = block.values.ravel()
+        inferred_type = lib.infer_dtype(rvalues)
 
         if inferred_type == 'datetime64':
             self.set_atom_datetime64(block)
         elif inferred_type == 'date':
             raise TypeError(
                 "[date] is not implemented as a table column")
+        elif inferred_type == 'datetime':
+            if getattr(rvalues[0],'tzinfo',None) is not None:
+                raise TypeError(
+                    "timezone support on datetimes is not yet implemented as a table column")
+            raise TypeError(
+                "[datetime] is not implemented as a table column")
         elif inferred_type == 'unicode':
             raise TypeError(
                 "[unicode] is not implemented as a table column")
@@ -2080,8 +2087,18 @@ def validate(self, other):
                             (other.table_type, self.table_type))
 
         for c in ['index_axes','non_index_axes','values_axes']:
-            if getattr(self,c,None) != getattr(other,c,None):
-                raise ValueError("invalid combinate of [%s] on appending data [%s] vs current table [%s]" % (c,getattr(self,c,None),getattr(other,c,None)))
+            sv = getattr(self,c,None)
+            ov = getattr(other,c,None)
+            if sv != ov:
+
+                # show the error for the specific axes
+                for i, sax in enumerate(sv):
+                    oax = ov[i]
+                    if sax != oax:
+                        raise ValueError("invalid combinate of [%s] on appending data [%s] vs current table [%s]" % (c,sax,oax))
+
+                # should never get here
+                raise Exception("invalid combinate of [%s] on appending data [%s] vs current table [%s]" % (c,sv,ov))
 
     @property
     def nrows_expected(self):
diff --git a/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py b/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
index 598812373538c..75fe0eefe771e 100644
--- a/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
+++ b/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
@@ -1150,15 +1150,19 @@ def test_table_values_dtypes_roundtrip(self):
             df1['float322'] = 1.
             df1['float322'] = df1['float322'].astype('float32')
             df1['bool']     = df1['float32'] > 0
+            df1['time1']    = Timestamp('20130101')
+            df1['time2']    = Timestamp('20130102')
 
             store.append('df_mixed_dtypes1', df1)
             result = store.select('df_mixed_dtypes1').get_dtype_counts()
             expected = Series({ 'float32' : 2, 'float64' : 1,'int32' : 1, 'bool' : 1,
-                                'int16' : 1, 'int8' : 1, 'int64' : 1, 'object' : 1 })
+                                'int16' : 1, 'int8' : 1, 'int64' : 1, 'object' : 1,
+                                'datetime64[ns]' : 2})
             result.sort()
             expected.sort()
             tm.assert_series_equal(result,expected)
 
+
     def test_table_mixed_dtypes(self):
 
         # frame
@@ -1231,6 +1235,17 @@ def test_unimplemented_dtypes_table_columns(self):
             # this fails because we have a date in the object block......
             self.assertRaises(TypeError, store.append, 'df_unimplemented', df)
 
+    def test_table_append_with_timezones(self):
+        # not implemented yet
+
+        with ensure_clean(self.path) as store:
+            
+            # check with mixed dtypes
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A = Timestamp('20130102',tz='US/Eastern')),index=range(5))
+
+            # timezones not yet supported
+            self.assertRaises(TypeError, store.append, 'df_tz', df)
+
     def test_remove(self):
 
         with ensure_clean(self.path) as store: