diff --git a/enterprise/litellm_enterprise/proxy/common_utils/check_responses_cost.py b/enterprise/litellm_enterprise/proxy/common_utils/check_responses_cost.py
index 54fbc7abcc5..dc0168683c8 100644
--- a/enterprise/litellm_enterprise/proxy/common_utils/check_responses_cost.py
+++ b/enterprise/litellm_enterprise/proxy/common_utils/check_responses_cost.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from litellm.constants import (
     MANAGED_OBJECT_STALENESS_CUTOFF_DAYS,
     MAX_OBJECTS_PER_POLL_CYCLE,
+    STALE_OBJECT_CLEANUP_BATCH_SIZE,
 )
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -32,21 +33,49 @@ def __init__(
         self.prisma_client: PrismaClient = prisma_client
         self.llm_router: Router = llm_router
 
+    async def _expire_stale_rows(
+        self, cutoff: datetime, batch_size: int
+    ) -> int:
+        """Execute the bounded UPDATE that marks stale rows as 'stale_expired'.
+
+        Isolated so it can be swapped / mocked in tests without touching the
+        orchestration logic in ``_cleanup_stale_managed_objects``.
+
+        Uses PostgreSQL syntax (``$1::timestamptz``, ``LIMIT``, double-quoted
+        identifiers) which is the only dialect the proxy supports — every
+        ``schema.prisma`` in the repo sets ``provider = "postgresql"``.
+        Same pattern as ``spend_log_cleanup.py``.
+        """
+        return await self.prisma_client.db.execute_raw(
+            """
+            UPDATE "LiteLLM_ManagedObjectTable"
+            SET "status" = 'stale_expired'
+            WHERE "id" IN (
+                SELECT "id" FROM "LiteLLM_ManagedObjectTable"
+                WHERE "file_purpose" = 'response'
+                AND "status" NOT IN ('completed', 'complete', 'failed', 'expired', 'cancelled', 'stale_expired')
+                AND "created_at" < $1::timestamptz
+                ORDER BY "created_at" ASC
+                LIMIT $2
+            )
+            """,
+            cutoff,
+            batch_size,
+        )
+
     async def _cleanup_stale_managed_objects(self) -> None:
         """
         Mark managed objects older than MANAGED_OBJECT_STALENESS_CUTOFF_DAYS days
         in non-terminal states as 'stale_expired'. These will never complete and
         should not be polled.
+
+        Runs as a single DB query with a subquery LIMIT so no rows are loaded
+        into Python memory. Processes at most STALE_OBJECT_CLEANUP_BATCH_SIZE
+        rows per invocation to avoid overwhelming the DB when there is a large
+        backlog.
         """
         cutoff = datetime.now(timezone.utc) - timedelta(days=MANAGED_OBJECT_STALENESS_CUTOFF_DAYS)
-        result = await self.prisma_client.db.litellm_managedobjecttable.update_many(
-            where={
-                "file_purpose": "response",
-                "status": {"not_in": ["completed", "complete", "failed", "expired", "cancelled", "stale_expired"]},
-                "created_at": {"lt": cutoff},
-            },
-            data={"status": "stale_expired"},
-        )
+        result = await self._expire_stale_rows(cutoff, STALE_OBJECT_CLEANUP_BATCH_SIZE)
         if result > 0:
             verbose_proxy_logger.warning(
                 f"CheckResponsesCost: marked {result} stale managed objects "
diff --git a/litellm/constants.py b/litellm/constants.py
index 1af53b2dae0..28c6c0cc0e3 100644
--- a/litellm/constants.py
+++ b/litellm/constants.py
@@ -1367,6 +1367,9 @@
 MANAGED_OBJECT_STALENESS_CUTOFF_DAYS = max(
     1, int(os.getenv("MANAGED_OBJECT_STALENESS_CUTOFF_DAYS", 7))
 )
+STALE_OBJECT_CLEANUP_BATCH_SIZE = max(
+    1, int(os.getenv("STALE_OBJECT_CLEANUP_BATCH_SIZE", 1000))
+)
 # Set PROXY_BATCH_POLLING_ENABLED=false to disable the CheckBatchCost and
 # CheckResponsesCost background polling jobs entirely (e.g. to avoid DB load on
 # installations with large numbers of stale managed objects).