diff --git a/bigchaindb/backend/rethinkdb/connection.py b/bigchaindb/backend/rethinkdb/connection.py
index e917e326..3b2459ac 100644
--- a/bigchaindb/backend/rethinkdb/connection.py
+++ b/bigchaindb/backend/rethinkdb/connection.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import rethinkdb as r
-
 from bigchaindb.backend.connection import Connection
 from bigchaindb.backend.exceptions import ConnectionError, OperationError
 
@@ -40,6 +39,9 @@ class RethinkDBConnection(Connection):
         """
 
         try:
-            return r.connect(host=self.host, port=self.port, db=self.dbname)
-        except r.ReqlDriverError as exc:
+            return r.connect(host=self.host,
+                             port=self.port,
+                             db=self.dbname,
+                             timeout=self.connection_timeout)
+        except (r.ReqlDriverError, r.ReqlTimeoutError) as exc:
             raise ConnectionError from exc
diff --git a/docs/server/source/server-reference/configuration.md b/docs/server/source/server-reference/configuration.md
index 2af4cbb1..3cb62c41 100644
--- a/docs/server/source/server-reference/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/server/source/server-reference/configuration.md
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ The settings with names of the form `database.*` are for the database backend
 * `database.port` is self-explanatory.
 * `database.name` is a user-chosen name for the database inside RethinkDB or MongoDB, e.g. `bigchain`.
 * `database.replicaset` is only relevant if using MongoDB; it's the name of the MongoDB replica set, e.g. `bigchain-rs`.
-* `database.connection_timeout` is the maximum number of milliseconds that BigchainDB will wait before giving up on one attempt to connect to the database backend. Note: At the time of writing, this setting was only used by MongoDB; there was an open [issue to make RethinkDB use it as well](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/issues/1337).
+* `database.connection_timeout` is the maximum number of milliseconds that BigchainDB will wait before giving up on one attempt to connect to the database backend.
 * `database.max_tries` is the maximum number of times that BigchainDB will try to establish a connection with the database backend. If 0, then it will try forever.
 
 **Example using environment variables**
diff --git a/tests/backend/rethinkdb/test_connection.py b/tests/backend/rethinkdb/test_connection.py
index df393716..c9703a6b 100644
--- a/tests/backend/rethinkdb/test_connection.py
+++ b/tests/backend/rethinkdb/test_connection.py
@@ -137,11 +137,28 @@ def test_changefeed_reconnects_when_connection_lost(monkeypatch):
 
 @patch('rethinkdb.connect')
 def test_connection_happens_one_time_if_successful(mock_connect):
+    import bigchaindb
     from bigchaindb.backend import connect
 
+    timeout = bigchaindb.config['database']['connection_timeout']
     query = r.expr('1')
     conn = connect('rethinkdb', 'localhost', 1337, 'whatev')
     conn.run(query)
     mock_connect.assert_called_once_with(host='localhost',
                                          port=1337,
-                                         db='whatev')
+                                         db='whatev',
+                                         timeout=timeout)
+
+
+@patch('rethinkdb.connect', side_effect=r.ReqlTimeoutError())
+def test_connection_timeout(mock_connect):
+    from bigchaindb.backend import connect
+    from bigchaindb.backend.exceptions import ConnectionError
+
+    query = r.expr('1')
+    conn = connect()
+
+    # connection should raise a ConnectionError after 3 tries
+    with pytest.raises(ConnectionError):
+        conn.run(query)
+    assert mock_connect.call_count == 3