SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County is no stranger to venomous spiders. The Black Widow and Brown Recluse have long called San Diego home.

But a new species, the Brown Widow, has now been spotted in some of the popular tourist spots in San Diego.

10News found the black widow’s cousin, the brown widow, in Balboa Park where unsuspecting visitors could be walking or sitting inches away from a potentially deadly spider.

Visitors at Balboa park may come to sit and relax not knowing a potentially deadly insect could be sitting inches away.

“This is definitely a characteristic of a brown widow spider,” said Entomologist, Michael Wall.

"I had never head of a brown widow spider. Before, I had heard of a black widow," said Torrie Cable of La Mesa. That is, until three weeks ago, when Cable got bit one morning while getting ready for work.

“I felt a little tickle on my shoulder then I felt something on my back,” Cable told 10News.

Cable says she had a near death experience.

"The pain in my lower back. I had never experienced in my entire life," Cable said.

She was hospitalized three days with all the symptoms.

"Primary symptoms severe pain, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms? Had that," Cable recalled.

Wall, an Entomologist at the Natural History Museum, said the spiders most likely traveled to California from Florida.

“The idea is, someone moved here from Florida. They had some patio furniture that moved with them and along came some egg masses from brown widows and they established themselves,” Wall told 10News.

“It does have more venom than the black widow but the brown version injects less venom when they bite,” Wall said.

"In either case you're probably not going to kick the bucket unless you have a compromised immune system," Wall said.

Since getting bit, Cable said she found a second brown widow at her home.

"I found egg sacks in there. The spider was here," Cable said, as she pointed to a garbage can.

She kept it, and like the widow population spreading, she wants to spread the word about the latest creepy crawler in San Diego County.

Experts agree the brown widow population is growing in San Diego County.

The number of reported sightings is up to about 100.

The first reported sighting was back in 2001.