diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index 426561b267f..9767bd8a932 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -7752,8 +7752,9 @@ async def token_counter(request: TokenCountRequest, call_endpoint: bool = False)
                     request_model=request.model,
                 )
             except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
-                error_message = getattr(e, "message", None) or str(e)
-                status_code = getattr(e, "status_code", None) or 500
+            except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
+                error_message = getattr(e, "message", None) or e.response.text or str(e)
+                status_code = getattr(e, "status_code", None) or e.response.status_code
                 raise ProxyException(
                     message=error_message,
                     type="token_counting_error",