Anybody have any problems with Parallel::ForkManager or maybe even DBI eating up resources?

I currently run a script that forks upto 5 children using ForkManager with upto a total 140 children by the time it's done.

When I run a big load (133), my CPU load slowly climbs from 5 to over 20 by the time it finishes. Once the whole script is done, it drops back down to ~5-7ish (not immediately, but 2x the speed it climbed).

Any thoughts?

I do everything by the book; Opening a DBI process per child, closing and unsetting the veriable for each close.