They may get sucked up in the oil stream, but if they are large enough they will be stopped by the oil pickup screen, then they drop and settle on the bottom of the oil pan when the engine is off.

 

I added a bottle of Techron cleaner to my tank on Tuesday after filling up on cheap Murphy USA 91 the last two weeks ( I still feel guilty)... the tick disappeared and I have a smoother idle. The weather has been cooler down here recently, so I'm not sure what the real culprit was. I'm doing a Seafoam oil treatment tomorrow before changing the oil and trying the induction treatment this weekend to cover my bases.