diff --git a/troveclient/common.py b/troveclient/common.py
index 8c1efb31..dc7a94a3 100644
--- a/troveclient/common.py
+++ b/troveclient/common.py
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ def quote_user_host(user, host):
 
 class Paginated(list):
 
-    def __init__(self, items=[], next_marker=None, links=[]):
+    def __init__(self, items=None, next_marker=None, links=None):
+        items = items or []
+        links = links or []
         super(Paginated, self).__init__(items)
         self.next = next_marker
         self.links = links
diff --git a/troveclient/compat/common.py b/troveclient/compat/common.py
index 152ea775..ec7854f6 100644
--- a/troveclient/compat/common.py
+++ b/troveclient/compat/common.py
@@ -399,10 +399,10 @@ class Paginated(object):
        next property you can use to get the next page of data.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, items=[], next_marker=None, links=[]):
-        self.items = items
+    def __init__(self, items=None, next_marker=None, links=None):
+        self.items = items or []
         self.next = next_marker
-        self.links = links
+        self.links = links or []
 
     def __len__(self):
         return len(self.items)
diff --git a/troveclient/v1/management.py b/troveclient/v1/management.py
index 4b572051..01ebf0a7 100644
--- a/troveclient/v1/management.py
+++ b/troveclient/v1/management.py
@@ -272,7 +272,8 @@ class MgmtDatastoreVersions(base.ManagerWithFind):
                          "version")
 
     def create(self, name, datastore_name, datastore_manager, image,
-               packages=[], active='true', default='false'):
+               packages=None, active='true', default='false'):
+        packages = packages or []
         """Create a new datastore version."""
         body = {"version": {
             "name": name,
@@ -287,7 +288,8 @@ class MgmtDatastoreVersions(base.ManagerWithFind):
         return self._create("/mgmt/datastore-versions", body, None, True)
 
     def edit(self, datastore_version_id, datastore_manager=None, image=None,
-             packages=[], active=None, default=None):
+             packages=None, active=None, default=None):
+        packages = packages or []
         """Update a datastore-version."""
         body = {}
         if datastore_manager is not None: