While I am aware of this spiders general behaviorial pattern,I have seen them turn aggressive and attack anything nearby. also of real note is the likely company they are found near, the always nasty Black widow, which I have found living in close quaters with in my yard twice and in the field as well. I have seen foyur or five large female, with male pairs, and one large black widow living in an wet box outside, shoebox size, with a cardboard tube inside. Ten eggsacks were there bringing this little box to a near 2000 spider capacity. spiders are good and critical to our world and our survival, but these are really prolific and dangerous large non-native spiders. Any seen should be sprayed, they move quickly and love mailboxes to breed in, which means the tiny baby spiders are on the mail at some point. Trash cans are so popular with them that we do not leave them out overnight anymore. Moreover, the problem was all but non existent a few years ago in South-west florida, and now it is a very common thing. Yes I have been bitten, by a brown widow, and let me assure you of two things: firstly, they can and do bite, second, the bite is nasty.

I very rarely encounter black widows here in S. FL, but the brown widow is very frequently encountered. They can found by mailboxes, under lawn furniture, alongside walls and doorways, and just about anywhere else you can think of. They are often low to the ground but sometimes can be found in trees and shrubs. As common as these spiders are, I would guess that around 99% of the population has never heard of a brown widow. This would be because nobody ever gets bitten by a brown widow. I've often held these in palm of my hand. They are very shy creatures, as Hannah noted. They will always flee as opposed to standing their ground. Their venom actually has twice the potency of the different black widow species, but since they are so timid, they are no threat to people. I'm sure that some people would want to debate this, but these spiders are so widespread throughout the southeastern U.S., if they were dangerous, you would hear of people being bitten by them. So if you encounter a brown widow, you can just leave her alone or move her out of harm's way.