diff --git a/etcd_wrapper.py b/etcd_wrapper.py
index 26d0edc..a631aa3 100644
--- a/etcd_wrapper.py
+++ b/etcd_wrapper.py
@@ -89,4 +89,4 @@ def create_timeout_event(timeout, key_prefix, etcd_client):
         time.sleep(timeout)
         _value = {"status": "TIMEOUT", "last_timeout": datetime.utcnow().isoformat()}
         _key = path.join(f"{key_prefix}", "TIMEOUT")
-        etcd_client.put(_key, _value, value_in_json=True)
+        etcd_client.put(_key.encode("utf-8"), json.dumps(_value))