diff --git a/litellm/assistants/main.py b/litellm/assistants/main.py
index 28f4518f15..928b6e8ac2 100644
--- a/litellm/assistants/main.py
+++ b/litellm/assistants/main.py
@@ -304,6 +304,11 @@ def create_assistants(
         "response_format": response_format,
     }
 
+    # only send params that are not None
+    create_assistant_data = {
+        k: v for k, v in create_assistant_data.items() if v is not None
+    }
+
     response: Optional[Union[Coroutine[Any, Any, Assistant], Assistant]] = None
     if custom_llm_provider == "openai":
         api_base = (
diff --git a/tests/local_testing/test_assistants.py b/tests/local_testing/test_assistants.py
index 8d10668720..592e692b88 100644
--- a/tests/local_testing/test_assistants.py
+++ b/tests/local_testing/test_assistants.py
@@ -74,9 +74,10 @@ async def test_get_assistants(provider, sync_mode):
 @pytest.mark.flaky(retries=3, delay=1)
 async def test_create_delete_assistants(provider, sync_mode):
     litellm.ssl_verify = False
+    litellm._turn_on_debug()
     data = {
         "custom_llm_provider": provider,
-        "model": "gpt-4-turbo",
+        "model": "gpt-4.5-preview",
         "instructions": "You are a personal math tutor. When asked a question, write and run Python code to answer the question.",
         "name": "Math Tutor",
         "tools": [{"type": "code_interpreter"}],
@@ -106,10 +107,7 @@ async def test_create_delete_assistants(provider, sync_mode):
         print("Response deleting assistant", response)
         assert response.id == assistant.id
     else:
-        assistant = await litellm.acreate_assistants(
-            custom_llm_provider=provider,
-            **data,
-        )
+        assistant = await litellm.acreate_assistants(**data)
         print("New assistants", assistant)
         assert isinstance(assistant, Assistant)
         assert (