Patricia Stanaway, age 11, Of Lansing, Mich., for her question:

Why does the shell of a captured turtle become soft?

The shell of a captured turtle need not and should not become soft. If this happens to your pet turtle, you should know more about how to care for him. The poor fellow is suffering from malnutrition or lack of sunlight. Some turtle owners think the little fellow can spend all his time in or under the water. But he needs a dry island and spells of warm sunshine in which to bask.

He also needs a balanced diet of raw hamburger, bugs and worms, lettuce and fresh fruit. Scoops of bone meal and doses of cod liver oil should be added during the winter months. A gob of plaster of Paris dropped into his pool will help to harden his shell. But the disease that causes his shell to soften and his eyes to become puffy is caused by the wrong diet or by lack of sunshine.