'It wasn't a big mouse, it was a big spider'

OREGON CITY, Ore. - Amber Kincaid bravely scooped up a spider she thought was a little different than most.

She was mowing her lawn when she saw something large sitting on her grass next to her home.

"I thought I ran over a mouse," she said. "I pulled the mower back and looked down and realized it wasn't a big mouse, it was a big spider."

It was unlike any spider she'd seen before.

"I thought it was abnormal. I started looking closer, and I saw it was pretty slimy; it was pretty wet from the grass. It didn't look like the average spider to me," she said. "The size and the front fangs are really thick."

After she scooped it up, she started researching online. She thinks it might be an Australian mouse spider.

"If it is, in fact, the spider we think it is, it's pretty venomous," she said.

Entomology expert, Kristie Reddick, said she thinks it's something else.

"This to me looks like a mygalomorph trapdoor spider," Reddick said surrounded by quite the collection of her own spiders.

Reddick, along with Jessica Honaker, creates videos, blogs and writes about spiders as one half of The Bug Chicks. She said Kincaid's spider isn't likely supposed to be in Oregon. But whatever it is she called it "special."

"If this does turn out to be an Australian mouse spider, they're fairly rare and they're hard to find in Australia even, and a lot of people have never seen one," she said.

Kincaid said she has contacted the Oregon Zoo about the spider. Officials there told KATU News they are looking into whether they can accept it and then determine what kind of spider it really is.