Introduction and objectives The ever-increasing number of patients with tick-borne diseases led us to an idea to investigate awareness, attitudes and knowledge of the threats arising from tick bites and preventive anti-tick practices. Materials and methods Questionnaires concerning these issues were distributed amongst Czech and Polish university students of science. Responses were analyzed by nationality and by sex. Results Nearly all respondents were aware of the risks arising from ticks and could name at least one disease transmitted by ticks. The Czech students felt more threatened by tick-borne diseases, have more frequently suffered from Lyme borreliosis and were vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis more often than the Polish students. The high number of our participants applies preventive measures against ticks in order to protect themselves. The Czech students believe in the effectiveness of repellents statistically more often than the Polish students, while effectiveness is the main criterion for selection of the right repellent in both groups. Conclusion Differences in preferences between the two nations appeared in many fields (eg. the Czechs feel more threatened by all kind of risk and suffered from the Lyme disease more frequently) Gaps can still be found in both knowledge and behaviour among our respondents. It can be expected that the general public knowledge of this issue is rather limited in comparison with the students participating in this study, who are systematically educated in the field.