It appears that post_init is not being recalled by reconnect when the connection is established. To me it seems logical that reconnect recalls post_init: A) post_init is where protocol intiailization is done B) docs say that post_init is called after a connection establishment Currently in my case the solution was simply: def unbind reconnect @host, @port post_init end I''m wondering peoples take on changing the behavior of reconnect to call post_init automatically...