diff --git a/lib/neography/config.rb b/lib/neography/config.rb
index f76fed9..7334a9f 100644
--- a/lib/neography/config.rb
+++ b/lib/neography/config.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class Config
       :log_file, :log_enabled, :slow_log_threshold,
       :max_threads,
       :authentication, :username, :password,
-      :parser
+      :parser, :max_execution_time
 
     def initialize
       set_defaults
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def to_hash
         :authentication     => @authentication,
         :username           => @username,
         :password           => @password,
-        :parser             => @parser
+        :parser             => @parser,
+        :max_execution_time => @max_execution_time
       }
     end
 
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@ def set_defaults
       @username           = nil
       @password           = nil
       @parser             = MultiJsonParser
+      @max_execution_time = 6000
       end
 
   end
diff --git a/lib/neography/connection.rb b/lib/neography/connection.rb
index 17da182..bdae7a4 100644
--- a/lib/neography/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/neography/connection.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def merge_options(options)
       merged_options = options.merge!(@authentication)
       merged_options[:headers].merge!(@user_agent) if merged_options[:headers]
       merged_options[:headers].merge!('X-Stream' => true) if merged_options[:headers]
+      merged_options[:headers].merge!(@max_execution_time) if merged_options[:headers]
       merged_options
     end
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ def save_local_configuration(config)
       @max_threads        = config[:max_threads]
       @parser             = config[:parser]
 
+      @max_execution_time = { 'max-execution-time' => config[:max_execution_time] }
       @user_agent     = { "User-Agent" => USER_AGENT }
 
       @authentication = {}
diff --git a/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb b/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb
index c88188a..8328bfd 100644
--- a/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/rest_header_spec.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
   it "should add a content type if there's existing headers" do
     subject.merge_options({:headers => {'Content-Type' => 'foo/bar'}})[:headers].should ==
-      {'Content-Type' => "foo/bar",  "User-Agent"   => "Neography/#{Neography::VERSION}" , "X-Stream"=>true}
+      {'Content-Type' => "foo/bar",  "User-Agent"   => "Neography/#{Neography::VERSION}" , "X-Stream"=>true, "max-execution-time"=>6000}
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/config_spec.rb b/spec/unit/config_spec.rb
index b8676fb..9e38b54 100644
--- a/spec/unit/config_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/config_spec.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ module Neography
       its(:username)           { should == nil }
       its(:password)           { should == nil }
       its(:parser)             { should == MultiJsonParser}
+      its(:max_execution_time) { should == 6000 }
 
       it "has a hash representation" do
         expected_hash = {
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@ module Neography
           :authentication     => nil,
           :username           => nil,
           :password           => nil,
-          :parser             => MultiJsonParser
+          :parser             => MultiJsonParser,
+          :max_execution_time => 6000
         }
         config.to_hash.should == expected_hash
       end
diff --git a/spec/unit/connection_spec.rb b/spec/unit/connection_spec.rb
index eeb822e..18e50f2 100644
--- a/spec/unit/connection_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/connection_spec.rb
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ module Neography
       it "adds the User-Agent to the headers" do
         connection.client.should_receive(:get).with(
           "http://localhost:7474/db/data/foo/bar",
-          nil, { "User-Agent" => "Neography/#{Neography::VERSION}", "X-Stream"=>true}
+          nil, { "User-Agent" => "Neography/#{Neography::VERSION}", "X-Stream"=>true, "max-execution-time"=>6000}
           ) { double.as_null_object }
 
         connection.get("/foo/bar", :headers => {})