diff --git a/misc-scripts/xref_mapping/XrefMapper/BasicMapper.pm b/misc-scripts/xref_mapping/XrefMapper/BasicMapper.pm
index 70c210e05b3e42a3107ca65d3bd39e925401cb51..3caafac040e9095bdf289ea917c3e70083403c8f 100644
--- a/misc-scripts/xref_mapping/XrefMapper/BasicMapper.pm
+++ b/misc-scripts/xref_mapping/XrefMapper/BasicMapper.pm
@@ -776,6 +776,10 @@ sub parse_mappings {
 
   my $dir = $self->dir();
 
+  #create new connections incase old ones have died.
+  $core_dbi = $self->dbi();
+  $xref_dbi = $self->xref()->dbi();
+
   # get current max object_xref_id
   my $row = @{$core_dbi->selectall_arrayref("SELECT MAX(object_xref_id) FROM object_xref")}[0];
   my $max_object_xref_id = @{$row}[0];