diff --git a/litellm/_service_logger.py b/litellm/_service_logger.py
index 1a5f46e9261..89c177b91a5 100644
--- a/litellm/_service_logger.py
+++ b/litellm/_service_logger.py
@@ -133,6 +133,16 @@ class ServiceLogging(CustomLogger):
         except Exception as e:
             verbose_logger.exception("Error emitting service event - %s", e)
 
+    def _has_service_event_observers(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether anything would receive a service event sent from a blocking caller.
+
+        Sending one runs an event loop on the calling thread. Under gevent, every
+        greenlet on that thread then sees a running loop, and Django rejects their
+        database queries with ``SynchronousOnlyOperation``. So skip it when there is
+        no service callback (or test counter) to receive the event.
+        """
+        return bool(litellm.service_callback) or self.mock_testing
+
     @staticmethod
     def _dispatch_from_sync(hook: Callable[[], Coroutine[object, object, None]]) -> None:
         """Run an async service hook from a blocking caller, whatever event loop it holds.
@@ -167,6 +177,8 @@ class ServiceLogging(CustomLogger):
 
         if self.mock_testing:
             self.mock_testing_sync_success_hook += 1
+        if not self._has_service_event_observers():
+            return
 
         self._dispatch_from_sync(
             lambda: self.async_service_success_hook(
@@ -196,6 +208,8 @@ class ServiceLogging(CustomLogger):
         """
         if self.mock_testing:
             self.mock_testing_sync_failure_hook += 1
+        if not self._has_service_event_observers():
+            return
 
         self._dispatch_from_sync(
             lambda: self.async_service_failure_hook(
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_service_logger.py b/tests/unit/test_service_logger.py
index de46403b64d..a0a175f9f05 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_service_logger.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_service_logger.py
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ Regression test for KeyError: 'call_type' when async_log_success_event
 is called without call_type in kwargs (e.g. from batch polling callbacks).
 """
 
+import asyncio
+import asyncio.events
+
 import pytest
 from datetime import datetime
 from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
@@ -277,3 +280,57 @@ async def test_service_failure_span_not_duplicated_for_string_and_instance(
         s for s in exporter.get_finished_spans() if s.name == "postgres get_user_object"
     ]
     assert len(db_spans) == 1
+
+
+_SYNC_HOOK_CALLS = [
+    pytest.param("service_success_hook", {}, id="success"),
+    pytest.param("service_failure_hook", {"error": RuntimeError("boom")}, id="failure"),
+]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def started_loops(monkeypatch) -> list[asyncio.AbstractEventLoop]:
+    """Event loops started during the test."""
+    started: list[asyncio.AbstractEventLoop] = []
+    original = asyncio.events._set_running_loop
+
+    def recording_set_running_loop(loop):
+        if loop is not None:
+            started.append(loop)
+        original(loop)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(asyncio.events, "_set_running_loop", recording_set_running_loop)
+    return started
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("hook_name, extra_kwargs", _SYNC_HOOK_CALLS)
+def test_sync_service_hook_starts_no_event_loop_without_callbacks(monkeypatch, started_loops, hook_name, extra_kwargs):
+    """With no service callback, nothing receives the event, so no loop should start."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "service_callback", [])
+
+    getattr(ServiceLogging(), hook_name)(service=ServiceTypes.REDIS, duration=0.1, call_type="test", **extra_kwargs)
+
+    assert started_loops == []
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("hook_name, extra_kwargs", _SYNC_HOOK_CALLS)
+def test_sync_service_hook_still_delivers_to_configured_callbacks(
+    monkeypatch, hook_name, extra_kwargs
+):
+    """With a service callback, the event still reaches it: a real OTel logger exports the span."""
+    from litellm.integrations.otel.model.spans import SpanRole
+
+    v2_logger, exporter = _make_otel_v2_logger()
+    parent = v2_logger._emitter.start_span(SpanRole.PROXY_REQUEST, "POST /chat/completions")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "service_callback", [v2_logger])
+
+    getattr(ServiceLogging(), hook_name)(
+        service=ServiceTypes.REDIS,
+        duration=0.1,
+        call_type="test",
+        parent_otel_span=parent,
+        **extra_kwargs,
+    )
+    parent.end()
+
+    assert "redis test" in [span.name for span in exporter.get_finished_spans()]