I believe some servers don't respond to head appropriately so if that dosn't work
from the LWP pod
$ua->simple_request($request, [$arg , $size]) This method dispatches a single WWW request on behalf of a user, and returns the response received. The $request should be a reference to a HTTP::Request object with values defined for at least the method() and url() attributes. If $arg is a scalar it is taken as a filename where the content of the response is stored.

If $arg is a reference to a subroutine, then this routine is called as chunks of the content is received. An optional $size argument is taken as a hint for an appropriate chunk size.

If $arg is omitted, then the content is stored in the response object itself.

-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."