Maybe use IO::Socket to make the connection then the Fhopen option on Net::Telnet::new to establish the Telnet session:

my $s = IO::Socket::INET::new(PeerHost => $host, PeerPort => $port,
                              Blocking => 0, ...);
my $t = Net::Telnet::new(fhopen => $s, ...);
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Disclaimer: Not tested. YMMV