In a desperate attempt to get a break from his nagging in-laws and regain his privacy, a Reddit user allegedly took advantage of his mother-in-law’s severe arachnophobia by getting a tarantula as a pet.

Reddit user “ProbablyAssholeGuy” isn’t really into tarantulas. He thinks they’re cool and all, but he wouldn’t have actually gotten one as a pet if weren’t for the added bonus of keeping his wife’s mother away from his house. In a post that recently went viral on the social network, the man said that his traditional Chinese in-laws had really been getting on his nerves with their unannounced visits and blatant breaches of privacy, but despite complaining to his wife about it for years, she just ignored his concerns. So when he notice his mother-in-law’s reaction to simply seeing a spider sitting in the corner of the house, he got the idea to use her arachnophobia to keep her away.

Photo: missie26870/Pixabay

“I have insufferable in laws. Father in law is manageable, but mother in law is crazy,” the Reddit user wrote. “Anyway, mother in law is arachnophobic. A few months ago she went crazy after a (wolf?) spider was simply in the corner doing nothing. Panic attack and all. So I got the idea to get a tarantula as a way to prevent her coming so often. It’s in a big enclosure in the living room. Asked wife before hand if it’s okay, but didn’t tell her the motivation. Worked like a charm, the dad still comes but the mother can’t stand to be in the same house as it.”

The man posted his story in the “AmITheAsshole” subreddit, where people ask the community to judge whether they were in the wrong for doing certain things in certain circumstances. This particular user wanted to know if he was an A-hole for not being upfront with his wife, even though she didn’t object when he said he wanted to get a tarantula.

“I’m mainly asking if AITA as I wasn’t upfront with my wife. But she’s continued to ignore my concerns about boundaries for years, I don’t think I had a choice. Plus the tarantula makes a cool pet,” the man wrote.

Most people agreed that what he did was ok, because he did ask his wife before getting the tarantula, and she was aware of her mother’s arachnophobia.

“It makes me think she really does want space from her mom, but doesn’t want the fallout of trying to get it,” one person commented on the thread.

“I’m sure she’s aware of her mother’s arachnophobia and thought she could play dumb and have it be a win-win,” someone else wrote.