diff --git a/internetarchive/search.py b/internetarchive/search.py
index 34791467..b9168147 100644
--- a/internetarchive/search.py
+++ b/internetarchive/search.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def _scrape(self):
             if j.get('error'):
                 yield j
             if not num_found:
-                num_found = int(j['total'])
+                num_found = int(j['total'] or 0)
             if not self._num_found:
                 self._num_found = num_found
             self._handle_scrape_error(j)