I love diving into Reddit threads. Especially Reddit threads that speak to something only someone from Arizona could understand.

Keeping a Tarantula as a Pet in Arizona? Not in MY HOUSE!

Reddit user u/mysonpete posted this thread:

AITA for not allowing my son to have a pet tarantula?

Pete's Mom asked if she was the a**hole after her husband made a parenting decision without consulting her first. I've edited it the thread down for brevity and language.
u/MySonPete writes:

My son, Pete age 9, recently found a tarantula in the desert behind our house (we live in Arizona) and brought it home in his pocket.

The Reddit user explains that she has a long-standing and deep fear of all spiders. Explaining she was bitten by a Brown Recluse when she was young. To this day, she's still physically and emotionally scarred.

Like many people with a severe phobia, her fear of spiders is paralyzing.

If I see a spider it... [can] send me into a full-on panic attack. Small spiders normally just make me cry or...recoil. Unfortunately the area we live [in] seems to have an abundance of spiders so I deal with this by going to therapy and taking anti-anxiety meds.

Living in Arizona, this is a problem any arachnophobe can relate to. The user admits she can't control the insects outside of her home, but inside - that's another matter altogether.

Return the Tarantula to the Desert - NOW!

The son (presumably Pete, judging by her username), wanted to keep the spider and asked for an aquarium and a heat lamp for the tarantula to live in. Pete's Mom immediately vetoed the idea.

She told Pete to return the tarantula to the dessert. As an alternative, she offered to take him to the pet store where he could pick out "literally any other animal" he wanted.

"If he really wanted an aquarium pet...he could pick a lizard or a snake or a fish or whatever else... [even a] puppy. But he could under no circumstances could he have a big a** spider as a pet in my home."

The Web Thickens

It turns out, Pete's dad had other ideas. Not only did father and son NOT return the tarantula to the desert, they came home with a second tarantula. Somehow Dad thinks Mom should just get over her phobia and not allow it to dictate their lives.

Pete's mom wasn't having it. She moved into a mother-in-law cottage on their property and refuses to return to the house until the tarantulas are out of the house and back where they belong.

How Reddit Voted. Is MOM the AH?

It turns out, that Reddit users came down Pete's mom's side. Experts weighed in, saying adopting what is essentially a wild animal is a bad idea. Another noted that dropping a tarantula as little as a few inches could hurt the arachnid.

Other users took Dad and Pete to task, saying Dad should be more supportive. Most users agreed that parents should make a decision like this together.

Reddit's conclusion: No. Mom Is Not the A**hole. Pete should not be allowed to keep a wild tarantula as a pet, even in Arizona. And Dad should be more supportive.