diff --git a/src/pybind/cephfs/cephfs.pyx b/src/pybind/cephfs/cephfs.pyx
index 6687cb86a15..3a9352dc7f3 100644
--- a/src/pybind/cephfs/cephfs.pyx
+++ b/src/pybind/cephfs/cephfs.pyx
@@ -597,13 +597,18 @@ cdef class LibCephFS(object):
             raise Error("libcephfs_initialize failed with error code: %d" % ret)
         self.state = "configuring"
 
-    def create(self, conf=None, conffile=None, auth_id=None):
+    NO_CONF_FILE = -1
+    "special value that indicates no conffile should be read when creating a mount handle"
+    DEFAULT_CONF_FILES = -2
+    "special value that indicates the default conffiles should be read when creating a mount handle"
+
+    def create(self, conf=None, conffile=NO_CONF_FILE, auth_id=None):
         """
         Create a mount handle for interacting with Ceph.  All libcephfs
         functions operate on a mount info handle.
         
         :param conf dict opt: settings overriding the default ones and conffile
-        :param conffile str opt: the path to ceph.conf to override the default settings
+        :param conffile Union[int,str], optional: the path to ceph.conf to override the default settings
         :auth_id str opt: the id used to authenticate the client entity
         """
         if conf is not None and not isinstance(conf, dict):
@@ -621,10 +626,11 @@ cdef class LibCephFS(object):
             raise Error("libcephfs_initialize failed with error code: %d" % ret)
 
         self.state = "configuring"
-        if conffile is not None:
-            # read the default conf file when '' is given
-            if conffile == '':
-                conffile = None
+        if conffile in (self.NO_CONF_FILE, None):
+            pass
+        elif conffile in (self.DEFAULT_CONF_FILES, ''):
+            self.conf_read_file(None)
+        else:
             self.conf_read_file(conffile)
         if conf is not None:
             for key, value in conf.items():
diff --git a/src/pybind/rados/rados.pyx b/src/pybind/rados/rados.pyx
index 2bda6d315d7..8fe9f1ebeaa 100644
--- a/src/pybind/rados/rados.pyx
+++ b/src/pybind/rados/rados.pyx
@@ -708,10 +708,15 @@ cdef class Rados(object):
         PyEval_InitThreads()
         self.__setup(*args, **kwargs)
 
+    NO_CONF_FILE = -1
+    "special value that indicates no conffile should be read when creating a mount handle"
+    DEFAULT_CONF_FILES = -2
+    "special value that indicates the default conffiles should be read when creating a mount handle"
+
     @requires(('rados_id', opt(str)), ('name', opt(str)), ('clustername', opt(str)),
-              ('conffile', opt(str)))
+              ('conffile', (str, int)))
     def __setup(self, rados_id=None, name=None, clustername=None,
-                conf_defaults=None, conffile=None, conf=None, flags=0,
+                conf_defaults=None, conffile=NO_CONF_FILE, conf=None, flags=0,
                 context=None):
         self.monitor_callback = None
         self.monitor_callback2 = None
@@ -753,10 +758,11 @@ cdef class Rados(object):
         if conf_defaults:
             for key, value in conf_defaults.items():
                 self.conf_set(key, value)
-        if conffile is not None:
-            # read the default conf file when '' is given
-            if conffile == '':
-                conffile = None
+        if conffile in (self.NO_CONF_FILE, None):
+            pass
+        elif conffile in (self.DEFAULT_CONF_FILES, ''):
+            self.conf_read_file(None)
+        else:
             self.conf_read_file(conffile)
         if conf:
             for key, value in conf.items():