However at some point during the process, the script abruptly dies.

You could try to unset autocheck in the constructor (and then handle errors yourself, of course): 

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( autocheck => 0 );
...

[download]

When enabled (which is the default in newer1 versions of WWW::Mechanize), any errors make the program die.  You seem to have a newer version...

___

1 from the Changes file: 

1.49_01     Sat Sep 27 23:50:04 CDT 2008
========================================
[THINGS THAT MAY BREAK YOUR CODE]
The autocheck argument to the constructor is now ON by default,
unless WWW::Mechanize is being subclassed.  There are so many new
programmers whose ->get() calls fail unchecked that I'm now putting
on the seat belts for them.

[download]

In reply to Re: Perl Mechanize Woes by almut
in thread Perl Mechanize Woes by listanand

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.