diff --git a/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py b/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
index 57e5adee..5cd76e85 100644
--- a/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
+++ b/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
@@ -92,6 +92,15 @@ def test_no_explicit_terms_custom_lambda(self, wage_X_y):
         gam.gridsearch(X, y)
         assert gam._is_fitted
 
+    def test_n_splines_not_int(self, mcycle_X_y):
+        """
+        used to fail for n_splines of type np.int64, as returned by np.arange
+        """
+        X, y = mcycle_X_y
+        gam = LinearGAM(n_splines=np.arange(9,10)[0]).fit(X, y)
+        assert gam._is_fitted
+
+
 # TODO categorical dtypes get no fit linear even if fit linear TRUE
 # TODO categorical dtypes get their own number of splines
 # TODO can force continuous dtypes on categorical vars if wanted
diff --git a/pygam/utils.py b/pygam/utils.py
index b2930bdb..b437c23f 100644
--- a/pygam/utils.py
+++ b/pygam/utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import division
 from copy import deepcopy
+import numbers
 import sys
 import warnings
 
@@ -593,10 +594,10 @@ def b_spline_basis(x, edge_knots, n_splines=20, spline_order=3, sparse=True,
         raise ValueError('Data must be 1-D, but found {}'\
                          .format(np.ravel(x).ndim))
 
-    if (n_splines < 1) or (type(n_splines) is not int):
+    if (n_splines < 1) or not isinstance(n_splines, numbers.Integral):
         raise ValueError('n_splines must be int >= 1')
 
-    if (spline_order < 0) or (type(spline_order) is not int):
+    if (spline_order < 0) or not isinstance(spline_order, numbers.Integral):
         raise ValueError('spline_order must be int >= 1')
 
     if n_splines < spline_order + 1: