Amplification of vertebrate cytochrome b gene was attempted to determine the origin of the ticks’ host blood meals; however, no cytochrome b was amplified from the ticks. This may have been due to ticks being captured before feeding as they were questing for a blood meal. SourceTracker analysis revealed that 31% of ticks had microbiomes that were between 1.1 and 27.4% similar to dog skin microbiomes (Table S2). Ticks negative for R. philipii or R. rhipicephali were more likely to have microbiomes similar to dog skin than ticks that were infected with R. philipii or R. rhipicephali (Generalized Linear Model; P = 0.023). Sphingomonadaceae, Oxalobacteraceae, and Comamonadaceae were the most abundant families of bacteria shared between tick and dog skin microbiomes. The tick microbiomes were less than 1% similar to microbiomes of the skins of fish, iguana, pigeon, rat, and human, as well as human oral, plant and soil microbiomes (Table S2).