diff --git a/swift/container/replicator.py b/swift/container/replicator.py
index b326ab70e3..006a808bd0 100644
--- a/swift/container/replicator.py
+++ b/swift/container/replicator.py
@@ -246,13 +246,13 @@ class ContainerReplicator(db_replicator.Replicator):
             broker.update_reconciler_sync(max_sync)
 
     def cleanup_post_replicate(self, broker, orig_info, responses):
-        debug_template = 'Not deleting db %s (%%s)' % broker.db_file
         if broker.sharding_required():
             # despite being a handoff, since we're sharding we're not going to
             # do any cleanup so we can continue cleaving - this is still
             # considered "success"
-            reason = 'requires sharding, state %s' % broker.get_db_state()
-            self.logger.debug(debug_template, reason)
+            self.logger.debug(
+                'Not deleting db %s (requires sharding, state %s)',
+                broker.db_file, broker.get_db_state())
             return True
         return super(ContainerReplicator, self).cleanup_post_replicate(
             broker, orig_info, responses)