diff --git a/nix/mariadb-up-mac.nix b/nix/mariadb-up-mac.nix
--- a/nix/mariadb-up-mac.nix
+++ b/nix/mariadb-up-mac.nix
@@ -77,8 +77,10 @@
       "$MARIADB_PIDFILE"
 
     if [[ ! -S "$MYSQL_UNIX_PORT" ]]; then
-      echo "Waiting for MariaDB to come up"
-      while [[ ! -S "$MYSQL_UNIX_PORT" ]]; do sleep 1; done
+      while [[ ! -S "$MYSQL_UNIX_PORT" ]]; do
+          sleep 3
+          echo "Waiting for MariaDB socket"
+      done
     fi
 
     # Assume this was run from git repository