Thanks for the tip. This is what is working for me now:

my $ssh = Net::OpenSSH->new(
    $host,
    user                => "user",
    password            => "password",
    timeout             => 30,
);

my $motd = $ssh->capture( {
        stderr_to_stdout    => 1, 
    }
);
 
print $motd;
[download]

The devices are indeed crippled, and unfortunately we need to resort to this kind of stuff to know when they break.