Is This a Real Photo of a Mantis?

[Mantis Man13]

This mantis’s abdomen looks way to big to be real. What do you guys think?

https://elements.envato.com/old-and-sick-praying-mantis-hierodula-majuscula-in-PJQKRV2

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yep. I've seen females in the wild so gravid that their abdomen is misshapen or even burst.

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Mantis Man13]

How do they move then? And I once had a friend whose  female Carolina mantis had a big abdomen that was later a  burst abdomen. Might that be because it was pregnant?

 

[MantisGirl13]

How do they move then? And I once had a friend whose  female Carolina mantis had a big abdomen that was later a  burst abdomen. Might that be because it was pregnant?

They can get so gravid that they can't move. I've only seen this in the wild.

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Mantis Man13]

So do they die then? And is the cause mating too many times?

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yes, they usually die. Mating has nothing to do with it. 

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Grapple_Apple]

This is easily avoidable in captivity by just regulating how much you would feed them. A mantis (instinctively) will eat whatever it can, especially adult females. Sometimes they will gorge themselves to the point where that happens, and then ending up gravid only worsens the situation.

 

[Mantis Man13]

How do you eat yourself to death until you burst open thats insane...