We have a barrel-type vacuum cleaner, we roll marbles along the hose if we need to get stuff out. I also bought a bag-saver (to try to foil the bad habits of my (now former) cleaner) and things like mice would end up there.
On the possum subject - I suspect opossums are as territorial as Aussie possums are. What happens when you re-locate possums - the fact you had one there, means you have a possum-friendly habitat. The possum which gets moved, will leave a "vacant possession" sign hanging up and at some stage (depending on how many possums in your area) another will move in.
The ranger killing the possum - it wouldn't happen here but in fact, he was doing a practical thing. Relocating a territorial animal generally leads to the death of that animal. Too often people would say, "You didn't move it far enough away, it came back," when in fact it was another possum that moved in.
In Australia, they will remove a possum from a house or a roof, but release it right outside. They often suggest we put up a possum box for the possum to learn to sleep in outside. It's a sort of furry protection racket, keep the little crittur warm and housed outside and it will keep interlopers away from your roof space.
A brief aside on the name - "opossum" came first. Not sure why it got tat name, but the US marsupials were known before Australia was discovered. So the Aussie ones were actually named after the US ones. "Oh, look! The Great South Land has possums too! Only they're cuter."
We love to read early records and diaries of Aussie explorers. Somewhere we have a printout from an old Aussie newspaper which had an editorial in it, very scathing about "alleged reports of a tree kangaroo". The article is hilarious, red in hindsight. The author was talking about how gullible people can be, and the sheer impossibility of the idea of a kangaroo that not only could climb trees (and not get stuck up there because of its tail) but actually preferred to stay up the tree.
Tree kangaroos are found in the tropics, in the northern tip of Queensland and into New Guinea, which took a long time to be opened up and discovered. And yes, they do have long tails but still manage well in trees.
You also get Cuscus in the same areas and they are very efficient climbers, using their tail to help grip. husband & I were at Sydney's Taronga Zoo some years ago, in the nocturnal house, when the Cuscus decided to go for a walk to visit the neighbouring enclosures. It was not happy with the keeper trying to grab his tail and herd him back to his own cage. He growled!
Marg
which in itself was hysterical but then she attacked Mogs as if to say "Why the heck did you push me off" 
