Split along side of abdomen?

[kwright]

Is this normal? I was about to feed my religiosa but spotted this. I've never seen it before and I'm confused and concerned. Is it just too full? Today makes 3 days since I last fed it. Also maybe someone with more knowledge can confirm its gender for me. I assume it's male.

 

[ausar318]

It is definitely a male. 

I’m not sure what you are referring to, when you ask about the split. If you are talking about the dark stripe, that is nothing to worry about. 

Here is a pic of my subadult male Chinese (Tenodera sinensis). He has the same stripe, it’s perfectly normal (also, you can see that his abdomen has the same number of segments)

 

[kwright]

The best way I can describe it is when you unzip a suitcase's overflow zipper. It's got the indentation along the side seam. I wasn't sure if it was a split in his exoskeleton or just stretched/normal.

 

[ausar318]

As long as it doesn’t look like it’s torn, and there aren’t any exposed guts or anything, it should be fine. 

 

[River Dane]

Not sure what you’re referring to, but here’s a pic of my old European mantis, also male. Their abdomens sometimes look like they’re “bulging” out of their exoskeleton, but they can generally handle a lot of food without issue, and most know when to stop.

your mantis looks healthy to me.

 

[kwright]

He just finished eating. Ooof. Look at that stuffed gut. Yes the bulging was what I was worried about but once he got more full I realized it was just expanded.

 

[Rick]

Not sure what you are seeing. Looks perfectly normal.

 

[Mantis Lady]

He looks like an healthy mantis. The stripes om the sides of adomen is normal. They can stretch when the mantis has a big meal.