A woman and her children fled their home in western Newfoundland early Wednesday after a spider that appeared to be poisonous crawled down a bedroom wall.

Kayla Randell caught sight of a red-spotted spider in her Corner Brook home after midnight and was advised her description matched a black widow, a species known for carrying venom that can cause muscle aches, nausea and other maladies.

"I just finished straightening my hair and I went to turn off my son's TV [when I saw] it crawling down the wall," she told CBC News. "I noticed that it had red spots on it, and it was really fast."

Randell contacted the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, who advised her to take her family to her mother's house.

Police called in the Newfoundland Insectarium, a nearby museum that has collected thousands of specimens.

Insectarium officials said spiders like the black widow have been known to hitch a ride into the province on grocery store produce.

Randell tried to kill the spider when she saw it.

"Before I could [swat] it, it went underneath the heater," she said.

A pest control officer later caught a spider with red markings behind the heater but determined it was not a black widow.

Randell, however, said the spider trapped by the officer did not appear to be the same one that frightened her.

"No, this is tiny," she said as she examined a spider moving around in a bottle.