That's a lot of forking all at once, especially if you have several hundred objects you are polling. I have a feeling that you are exceeding the max connections to your database, and thus causing this code to execute:

        if (!$child_dbh) {
            exit(0);
        }
[download]

That would explain your 'handle destroyed without disconnect messages'. To test this theory, try putting a disconnect command right before that exit and see if you still get the same warnings.

My first suggestion would be that you look at Parallel::ForkManager. You can then tune your program to only run x processes at a time. It will make your program more scalable and keep it from getting out of control.

My second suggestion would be to try ditcing the $child_dbh all together. I have a feeling that all of the child processes should be able to share the same $parent_dbh. (I might be mistaken here, give it a try).