diff --git a/lib/prerender_rails.rb b/lib/prerender_rails.rb
index af264c9..c923ec2 100644
--- a/lib/prerender_rails.rb
+++ b/lib/prerender_rails.rb
@@ -99,6 +99,11 @@ def initialize(app, options={})
       @options[:blacklist] = [@options[:blacklist]] if @options[:blacklist].is_a? String
       @extensions_to_ignore = @options[:extensions_to_ignore] if @options[:extensions_to_ignore]
       @crawler_user_agents = @options[:crawler_user_agents] if @options[:crawler_user_agents]
+
+      timeout = options.delete(:timeout)
+      @options[:open_timeout] = @options[:open_timeout] || timeout
+      @options[:read_timeout] = @options[:read_timeout] || timeout
+
       @app = app
     end
 
@@ -181,11 +186,9 @@ def get_prerendered_page_response(env)
         }
         headers['X-Prerender-Token'] = ENV['PRERENDER_TOKEN'] if ENV['PRERENDER_TOKEN']
         headers['X-Prerender-Token'] = @options[:prerender_token] if @options[:prerender_token]
-        req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url.request_uri, headers)
-        req.basic_auth(ENV['PRERENDER_USERNAME'], ENV['PRERENDER_PASSWORD']) if @options[:basic_auth]
-        http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
-        http.use_ssl = true if url.scheme == 'https'
-        response = http.request(req)
+
+        http = build_http_client(url)
+        response = http.request(build_http_request(url, headers))
         if response['Content-Encoding'] == 'gzip'
           response.body = ActiveSupport::Gzip.decompress(response.body)
           response['Content-Length'] = response.body.bytesize
@@ -210,6 +213,19 @@ def get_prerendered_page_response(env)
       end
     end
 
+    def build_http_request(uri, headers)
+      Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.request_uri, headers).tap do |req|
+        req.basic_auth(ENV["PRERENDER_USERNAME"], ENV["PRERENDER_PASSWORD"]) if @options[:basic_auth]
+      end
+    end
+
+    def build_http_client(uri)
+      Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port).tap do |http|
+        http.use_ssl = true if uri.scheme == "https"
+        http.open_timeout = @options[:open_timeout] if @options[:open_timeout]
+        http.read_timeout = @options[:read_timeout] if @options[:read_timeout]
+      end
+    end
 
     def build_api_url(env)
       new_env = env
diff --git a/test/lib/prerender_rails.rb b/test/lib/prerender_rails.rb
index 719b61e..a7d909e 100644
--- a/test/lib/prerender_rails.rb
+++ b/test/lib/prerender_rails.rb
@@ -257,4 +257,39 @@
     end
   end
 
+  describe "#build_http_client" do
+    it "should set use_ssl for https uri" do
+      @prerender = Rack::Prerender.new(@app)
+      uri = URI.parse("https://google.com/search?q=javascript")
+      http_client = @prerender.build_http_client(uri)
+
+      assert_equal true, http_client.use_ssl?
+    end
+
+    it "should set use_ssl for http uri" do
+      @prerender = Rack::Prerender.new(@app)
+      uri = URI.parse("http://google.com/search?q=javascript")
+      http_client = @prerender.build_http_client(uri)
+
+      assert_equal false, http_client.use_ssl?
+    end
+
+    it "should use global timeout if provided" do
+      @prerender = Rack::Prerender.new(@app, timeout: 10)
+      uri = URI.parse("https://google.com/search?q=javascript")
+      http_client = @prerender.build_http_client(uri)
+
+      assert_equal 10, http_client.open_timeout
+      assert_equal 10, http_client.read_timeout
+    end
+
+    it "should respect open_timeout" do
+      @prerender = Rack::Prerender.new(@app, open_timeout: 5, read_timeout: 10)
+      uri = URI.parse("https://google.com/search?q=javascript")
+      http_client = @prerender.build_http_client(uri)
+
+      assert_equal 5, http_client.open_timeout
+      assert_equal 10, http_client.read_timeout
+    end
+  end
 end