diff --git a/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py b/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
index b71d6784873..9a18f88a9fc 100644
--- a/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
+++ b/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
     Any,  # noqa: TID251  # untyped non_default_params dict is the only source of the unknown key type
     Final,
+    Optional,
     cast,  # noqa: TID251  # untyped non_default_params dict is the only source of the unknown key type
     get_args,
 )
@@ -32,8 +33,13 @@ else:
 
 
 class VectorStoreIndexRegistry:
-    def __init__(self, vector_store_indexes: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex] = []):
-        self.vector_store_indexes: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex] = vector_store_indexes
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        vector_store_indexes: Optional[list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex]] = None,
+    ):
+        self.vector_store_indexes: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex] = (
+            vector_store_indexes if vector_store_indexes is not None else []
+        )
 
     def get_vector_store_indexes(self) -> list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex]:
         """
@@ -101,8 +107,13 @@ class VectorStoreIndexRegistry:
 
 
 class VectorStoreRegistry:
-    def __init__(self, vector_stores: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStore] = []):
-        self.vector_stores: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStore] = vector_stores
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        vector_stores: Optional[list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStore]] = None,
+    ):
+        self.vector_stores: list[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStore] = (
+            vector_stores if vector_stores is not None else []
+        )
         self.vector_store_ids_to_vector_store_map: dict[str, LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStore] = {}
 
     def _extract_tool_params(self, tool: dict) -> VectorStoreToolParams: