I'm no medical expert, but I do have a morbid fascination with snakes, and I occasionally watch a program set in Southern California following the adventures of a doctor who specializes in treating snake bites.

From that program, I've gotten the idea that it usually takes much longer than an hour and a half to die from a rattlesnake bite.

So I'm going to guess the rattlesnake story is the lie, though be honest the attempted suicide story doesn't ring completely true to me either, for some niggling reason I can't put my finger on.

But I'm sticking with my rattlesnake guess.