diff --git a/posthog/session_recordings/realtime_snapshots.py b/posthog/session_recordings/realtime_snapshots.py
index 5068fa8fa994a..d6890c63517e1 100644
--- a/posthog/session_recordings/realtime_snapshots.py
+++ b/posthog/session_recordings/realtime_snapshots.py
@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@
 
 SUBSCRIPTION_CHANNEL = "@posthog/replay/realtime-subscriptions"
 
-ATTEMPT_MAX = 6
-ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 0.1
-
 
 def get_key(team_id: str, suffix: str) -> str:
     return f"@posthog/replay/snapshots/team-{team_id}/{suffix}"
@@ -67,7 +64,7 @@ def get_realtime_snapshots(team_id: str, session_id: str, attempt_count=0) -> Op
         # and the consumer doesn't know it should be sending data to redis
         publish_subscription(team_id, session_id)
 
-        if not encoded_snapshots and attempt_count < ATTEMPT_MAX:
+        if not encoded_snapshots and attempt_count < settings.REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_MAX:
             logger.info(
                 "No realtime snapshots found, publishing subscription and retrying",
                 team_id=team_id,
@@ -77,9 +74,11 @@ def get_realtime_snapshots(team_id: str, session_id: str, attempt_count=0) -> Op
 
             PUBLISHED_REALTIME_SUBSCRIPTIONS_COUNTER.labels(attempt_count=attempt_count).inc()
 
-            # this means we'll sleep 0.1, 0.1, 0,1, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2
-            # for a total of 0.9 seconds
-            sleep(ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS if attempt_count < 4 else ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS * 2)
+            sleep(
+                settings.REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+                if attempt_count < 4
+                else settings.REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS * 2
+            )
             return get_realtime_snapshots(team_id, session_id, attempt_count + 1)
 
         if encoded_snapshots:
diff --git a/posthog/settings/session_replay.py b/posthog/settings/session_replay.py
index 4f515ff062672..e76866f599948 100644
--- a/posthog/settings/session_replay.py
+++ b/posthog/settings/session_replay.py
@@ -5,3 +5,13 @@
 # when allowing use of denormalized properties in some session replay event queries
 # it is likely this can be returned to the default of True in future but would need careful monitoring
 ALLOW_DENORMALIZED_PROPS_IN_LISTING = get_from_env("ALLOW_DENORMALIZED_PROPS_IN_LISTING", False, type_cast=str_to_bool)
+
+# realtime snapshot loader tries REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_MAX times
+# it waits for REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS between the first 3 attempts
+# and REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS * 2 between the remainder
+# so with the default values, it will try for 1.8 seconds before giving up (0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.4, 0.4, 0.4)
+REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_MAX = get_from_env("REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_MAX", 6, type_cast=int)
+
+REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = get_from_env(
+    "REALTIME_SNAPSHOTS_FROM_REDIS_ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS", 0.2, type_cast=float
+)