A comparative study of species composition, distribution and habitatrnassociation of pest rodents was carried out in Arbaminch Forest andrnnearby farmlands from August, 2005 to April, 2006. Six different types ofrnhabitats, four from natural forest and two from farmlands were randomlyrnselected. These samples were from ground water forest, riverine forest,rndeciduous bushland, Lake Abaya shore, maize plantation and cottonrnplantation. In each habitat type, one representative trapping grid wasrnrandomly selected for live trapping. In addition, rodents were alsornsurveyed from each habitat by snap trapping. Sixteen species of smallrnmammals that including two shrews were recorded from the study area.rnThirteen small mammals trapped were Mastomys natalensis (32.9%),rnArvicanthis dembeensis (30.6%), Acomys cahirinus (10.3%), Lemniscomysrnstriatus (8.3%), Mastomys erythroleucus (5.7%), Tatera robusta (3.4%),rnArvicanthis niloticus (2.9%), Stenocephalemys albipes (2.1%), Grammomysrndolichurus (1.3%), Mus musculus (1.3%) and Mus tenellus (0.3%), Crocidurarnflavescence (0.6%) and Crocidura fumosa (0.3%). The distribution ofrnspecies varied from habitat to habitat and season to season. Eleven andrnseven rodent species were trapped from natural habitats and farmlands,rnrespectively. Among trapped rodents, M. natalensis was the most widelyrndistributed species, whereas T. robusta and L. striatus were the least. Thernpopulation was also varied from season to season, high during the dryrnseason and less during the wet season. Four rodent species (M. natalensis,rnA. dembeensis M. musculus and, Hystrix cristata ) were recoded as pestsrnspecies of maize crops in farmlands.