diff --git a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/toolkit/retriever.py b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/toolkit/retriever.py
index 4a3c0be20aeb3c7ad2ba720694df6e9d3256c22b..b62c01fcc8059ed9dfc170f6af7a8858baad635e 100644
--- a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/toolkit/retriever.py
+++ b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/toolkit/retriever.py
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ class Retriever(ABC):
     """
     The Retriever abstract class implements retrieve operations on a given DBMS
     """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.session = self.connect_to_archiving_db()
+        self.ab = self.set_archiver_base()
     
     def create_session(self, creds):
         """
@@ -120,8 +124,8 @@ class RetrieverMySQL(Retriever):
     
     def __init__(self, cm_name: str = 'archiving/hdbpp/confmanager01'):
         self.cm_name = cm_name
-        self.session = self.connect_to_archiving_db()
-        self.ab = self.set_archiver_base()
+
+        super().__init__()
     
     def connect_to_archiving_db(self):
         """
@@ -216,8 +220,8 @@ class RetrieverTimescale(Retriever):
     
     def __init__(self, cm_name: str = 'archiving/hdbppts/confmanager01'):
         self.cm_name = cm_name
-        self.session = self.connect_to_archiving_db()
-        self.ab = self.set_archiver_base()
+
+        super().__init__()
     
     def connect_to_archiving_db(self):
         """