Brown widow spiders on the move in Louisiana

Baton Rouge, La. - Reports of deadly brown widow spiders are coming in from all over Louisiana.

The most recent sighting is in Zachary where a woman says she spotted one of the potentially deadly critters outside her house.

Danielle Kinler told our Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ that her daughter saw the spider outside of the door of their home Sunday morning.

She wasted no time killing it, but, Kinler says it wasn't until after a Google search on her phone, she realized that it had been a poisonous brown widow at her front door.

Kinler says, " I'm glad we didn't know what it was before I killed it. "

Professors with LSU's Department of Entomology say, after Hurricane Katrina, brown widows moved into areas they usually wouldn't live.

Dr. Dennis Ring says brown widows are a lot like black widows.  The main difference is their color, and if one bites you, it's pretty serious.  "It can take a few days to have a serious problem, but your tissue's going to rot," said Dr. Ring.

In some cases, a brown widow spider bite can be deadly. Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are more at risk from a brown widow bite.