diff --git a/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/LLMObsSystem.java b/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/LLMObsSystem.java
index 00a04e5e59d..1a449d8f97c 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/LLMObsSystem.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/LLMObsSystem.java
@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ public static void start(Instrumentation inst, SharedCommunicationObjects sco) {
 
     sco.createRemaining(config);
 
+    LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS has been created, setting span factory");
     LLMObsInternal.setLLMObsSpanFactory(
         new LLMObsManualSpanFactory(config.getLlmObsMlApp(), config.getServiceName()));
 
     String mlApp = config.getLlmObsMlApp();
-    LLMObsInternal.setLLMObsSpanFactory(
-        new LLMObsManualSpanFactory(mlApp, config.getServiceName()));
+    LLMObs.LLMObsSpanFactory factory = new LLMObsManualSpanFactory(mlApp, config.getServiceName());
+    LLMObsInternal.setLLMObsSpanFactory(factory);
+
+    LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS SPAN FACTORY SET {}", factory);
 
     LLMObsInternal.setLLMObsEvalProcessor(new LLMObsCustomEvalProcessor(mlApp, sco, config));
   }
@@ -145,6 +148,8 @@ public LLMObsSpan startLLMSpan(
         @Nullable String mlApp,
         @Nullable String sessionId) {
 
+      LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS STARTING LLM SPAN");
+
       DDLLMObsSpan span =
           new DDLLMObsSpan(
               Tags.LLMOBS_LLM_SPAN_KIND, spanName, getMLApp(mlApp), sessionId, serviceName);
@@ -158,6 +163,8 @@ public LLMObsSpan startLLMSpan(
         modelProvider = CUSTOM_MODEL_VAL;
       }
       span.setTag(LLMObsTags.MODEL_PROVIDER, modelProvider);
+
+      LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS STARTED LLM SPAN {}", span);
       return span;
     }
 
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/domain/DDLLMObsSpan.java b/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/domain/DDLLMObsSpan.java
index 71d13596090..4692fad6ad6 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/domain/DDLLMObsSpan.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/agent-llmobs/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/domain/DDLLMObsSpan.java
@@ -290,6 +290,7 @@ public void addThrowable(Throwable throwable) {
 
   @Override
   public void finish() {
+    LOGGER.debug("FINISHING LLM OBS SPAN {}", this);
     if (finished) {
       return;
     }
diff --git a/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/LLMObs.java b/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/LLMObs.java
index 6f3224dfcaa..00b5ce2ed8a 100644
--- a/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/LLMObs.java
+++ b/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/LLMObs.java
@@ -5,12 +5,15 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 public class LLMObs {
   protected LLMObs() {}
 
   protected static LLMObsSpanFactory SPAN_FACTORY = NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.INSTANCE;
   protected static LLMObsEvalProcessor EVAL_PROCESSOR = NoOpLLMObsEvalProcessor.INSTANCE;
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.class);
 
   public static LLMObsSpan startLLMSpan(
       String spanName,
@@ -19,6 +22,7 @@ public static LLMObsSpan startLLMSpan(
       @Nullable String mlApp,
       @Nullable String sessionId) {
 
+    LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS SPAN FACTORY {}", SPAN_FACTORY);
     return SPAN_FACTORY.startLLMSpan(spanName, modelName, modelProvider, mlApp, sessionId);
   }
 
diff --git a/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/noop/NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.java b/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/noop/NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.java
index b142ee43313..baebbf49ffb 100644
--- a/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/noop/NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.java
+++ b/dd-trace-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/api/llmobs/noop/NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.java
@@ -3,16 +3,23 @@
 import datadog.trace.api.llmobs.LLMObs;
 import datadog.trace.api.llmobs.LLMObsSpan;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 public class NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory implements LLMObs.LLMObsSpanFactory {
   public static final NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory INSTANCE = new NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory();
 
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(NoOpLLMObsSpanFactory.class);
+
   public LLMObsSpan startLLMSpan(
       String spanName,
       String modelName,
       String modelProvider,
       @Nullable String mlApp,
       @Nullable String sessionId) {
+
+    LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS STARTED NOOP LLM SPAN");
+
     return NoOpLLMObsSpan.INSTANCE;
   }
 
diff --git a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/writer/ddintake/LLMObsSpanMapper.java b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/writer/ddintake/LLMObsSpanMapper.java
index fce921787e2..0439cd97bba 100644
--- a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/writer/ddintake/LLMObsSpanMapper.java
+++ b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/llmobs/writer/ddintake/LLMObsSpanMapper.java
@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ public void map(List<? extends CoreSpan<?>> trace, Writable writable) {
     List<? extends CoreSpan<?>> llmobsSpans =
         trace.stream().filter(LLMObsSpanMapper::isLLMObsSpan).collect(Collectors.toList());
 
+    if (llmobsSpans.size() <= 0) {
+      LOGGER.debug("no LLMObs spans found, {} spans found before filtering", trace.size());
+      return;
+    }
+
     writable.startMap(3);
 
     writable.writeUTF8(EVENT_TYPE);
@@ -147,7 +152,10 @@ public void map(List<? extends CoreSpan<?>> trace, Writable writable) {
 
   private static boolean isLLMObsSpan(CoreSpan<?> span) {
     CharSequence type = span.getType();
-    return type != null && type.toString().contentEquals(InternalSpanTypes.LLMOBS);
+
+    boolean filtered = type != null && type.toString().contentEquals(InternalSpanTypes.LLMOBS);
+    LOGGER.debug("INCLUDED={} span {}", filtered, span);
+    return filtered;
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -214,6 +222,7 @@ public void accept(Metadata metadata) {
       String spanKind = "unknown";
       for (Map.Entry<String, Object> tag : metadata.getTags().entrySet()) {
         String key = tag.getKey();
+        LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS SPAN TAG: key={} val={}", key, tag.getValue());
         if (key.equals(SPAN_KIND_TAG_KEY)) {
           spanKind = String.valueOf(tag.getValue());
         } else if (TAGS_FOR_REMAPPING.contains(key)) {
@@ -243,6 +252,7 @@ public void accept(Metadata metadata) {
       writable.startMap(metricsSize);
       for (Map.Entry<String, Object> tag : metadata.getTags().entrySet()) {
         String tagKey = tag.getKey();
+        LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS FINAL METRIC: key={} val={}", tagKey, tag.getValue());
         if (tagKey.startsWith(LLMOBS_METRIC_PREFIX) && tag.getValue() instanceof Number) {
           writable.writeString(tagKey.substring(LLMOBS_METRIC_PREFIX.length()), null);
           writable.writeObject(tag.getValue(), null);
@@ -256,6 +266,7 @@ public void accept(Metadata metadata) {
       for (Map.Entry<String, Object> tag : metadata.getTags().entrySet()) {
         String key = tag.getKey();
         Object value = tag.getValue();
+        LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS FINAL TAG: key={} val={}", key, value);
         if (!tagsToRemapToMeta.containsKey(key) && key.startsWith(LLMOBS_TAG_PREFIX)) {
           writable.writeObject(key.substring(LLMOBS_TAG_PREFIX.length()) + ":" + value, null);
         }
@@ -276,6 +287,7 @@ public void accept(Metadata metadata) {
       for (Map.Entry<String, Object> tag : tagsToRemapToMeta.entrySet()) {
         String key = tag.getKey().substring(LLMOBS_TAG_PREFIX.length());
         Object val = tag.getValue();
+        LOGGER.debug("LLM OBS REMAPPED META SPAN TAG: key={} val={}", key, val);
         if (key.equals(INPUT) || key.equals(OUTPUT)) {
           if (!spanKind.equals(Tags.LLMOBS_LLM_SPAN_KIND)) {
             key += ".value";