diff --git a/gandi_ddns.py b/gandi_ddns.py
index 170a41f00f20b8bb1c2da0bfab60a4a832fae59d..8b05ebacd5745f2ea432f1b43698a654d0da709b 100755
--- a/gandi_ddns.py
+++ b/gandi_ddns.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def main():
     url = '%sdomains/%s/records/%s/A' % (config.get(section, 'api'), config.get(section, 'domain'), config.get(section, 'a_name'))
     print(url)
     #Discover External IP
-    retries = config.get(section, 'retries', fallback=DEFAULT_RETRIES)
+    retries = int(config.get(section, 'retries', fallback=DEFAULT_RETRIES))
     external_ip = get_ip(retries)
     print(('External IP is: %s' % external_ip))