diff --git a/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/netsnmp.go b/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/netsnmp.go
index 25a5ba3e0..ce06987e4 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/netsnmp.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/netsnmp.go
@@ -82,8 +82,10 @@ func (s *netsnmpTranslator) snmptranslate(oid string) (e snmp.MibEntry, err erro
 	return e, nil
 }
 
-func newNetsnmpTranslator() *netsnmpTranslator {
+func newNetsnmpTranslator(timeout config.Duration) *netsnmpTranslator {
 	return &netsnmpTranslator{
 		execCmd: realExecCmd,
+		cache:   make(map[string]snmp.MibEntry),
+		Timeout: timeout,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/snmp_trap.go b/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/snmp_trap.go
index 05cc7b319..e7b9d413f 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/snmp_trap.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/snmp_trap/snmp_trap.go
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs"
 )
 
+var defaultTimeout = config.Duration(time.Second * 5)
+
 // DO NOT REMOVE THE NEXT TWO LINES! This is required to embed the sampleConfig data.
 //go:embed sample.conf
 var sampleConfig string
@@ -68,6 +70,7 @@ func init() {
 		return &SnmpTrap{
 			timeFunc:       time.Now,
 			ServiceAddress: "udp://:162",
+			Timeout:        defaultTimeout,
 			Path:           []string{"/usr/share/snmp/mibs"},
 			Version:        "2c",
 		}
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ func (s *SnmpTrap) Init() error {
 			return err
 		}
 	case "netsnmp":
-		s.translator = newNetsnmpTranslator()
+		s.translator = newNetsnmpTranslator(s.Timeout)
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid translator value")
 	}