So I have been noticing more and more a particular species of spider around my property and house. I am not scared of spiders and I do not really put them in the “pest” category where you would need to get an exterminator involved, but this particular spider is making me nervous… it has a red-ish/orange-ish hourglass on it, similar to a Black Widow! My spider is brown though and only comes out at night, so it is hard to take pictures of. Here are a few pictures I was able to capture of a few of these brown spiders:
I know the Black Widow spider is poisonous, so I wanted to make sure this particular spider was not dangerous to my young kids. In researching, I have identified it as the Brown Widow spider, but I would like to see if my friend 
If it is indeed the Brown Widow, Wikipedia does say it is venomous, but with not nearly as potent a venom as the Black Widow. It also says it originates in South Africa, but is newly established in Southern California, which is where I reside! Here is the Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_geometricus
It appears that the venom and toxins from a Brown Widow bite is confined to the bite area and is minor compared to a Black Widow bite, as it cannot deliver the same amount of venom.
OK, now what do I do? Do I go through and kill them all to make sure my kids do not get bit or do I let them be if they are not bothering anybody? Any advice?
It looks like a local University was doing some extensive research on this particular spider, so maybe I will call them up to see if they want to turn my house into a research project as I seem to have quite a few of these spiders hanging around!
Take care,
Brian
