Reality star Spencer Pratt talks hummingbirds and his crystal business
What do hummingbirds and crystals have in common? Spencer Pratt.
The Hills star, turned founder of Pratt Daddy Crystals, is deeply beloved as the internet’s hummingbird whisperer — seducing the 4-inch, shimmering speedsters literally into the palm of his hand.
Pratt’s first encounter with a “hummer” was back in 2017 — the day he learned his wife, Heidi Montag, was pregnant.
“There was a hummingbird flying around my head and I was like, ‘What is going on? Is this supposed to be a sign? A message?’” he said.
Pratt turned to his right and found a nest with a “Tic Tac-sized” egg that hatched in a matter of hours. He chose the eponymous name Allen for the baby bird, after the Allen hummingbird.
“I would be able to just walk up and whisper in Allen’s ear, read him new stories, tell him what was going on in pop culture. We just became best friends,” says Pratt.
Allen was the first of many hummingbird friends — Pratt guesses he has more than 400 hummingbirds living in his backyard now. He has a dozen hummingbird feeders hanging off his balcony (he says that at one point he had around 50), in addition to the handheld feeders he uses to coax the birds onto his fingers, and the one-of-a-kind feeder-hat his mom handmade for him.
“When I started getting into having feeders… I learned that red dye is poison. You never use the store bought,” he said. Instead, he makes fresh nectar — one cup of white cane sugar per four cups of water — every morning.
“Hummingbirds want new nectar, fresh from that day,” Pratt said, “They want it. They’re super spoiled.”
But nectar isn’t the only thing the birds are particular about. Pratt says they’re also extremely sensitive to the mood and energy of their visitors.
“The time when I got the most [hummingbird] landings, life was so good,” he said, “I think my aura and my energy field at that time was so unbelievable.”
“And nowadays, living in a pandemic and having your small business being a third of what it was,” he said, “I’ll be not in the best mood and the hummers don’t come land on me. So I try to take a deep breath. Sometimes I’ll sage my aura or put on more crystals.”
Cue Pratt’s business: Pratt Daddy — a company that sells crystals as jewelry and home decor and “recognizes the power of precious stones in healing the mind and the body.” (Disclaimer: their products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent physical or mental maladies. Use them in good health, but never as a replacement for medical treatment.)
Spencer never intended to get into the business of selling crystals. In fact, he hated the idea of handing over his collection.
“The hardest part of being obsessed with crystals is actually letting them go. I want to keep every crystal that I ever am around,” he said. The first crystal he ever bought he spotted in a local coffee shop in 2009. It wasn’t for sale, but he bought the 3,000-pound rock on the spot. It had to be delivered to his home via crane.
That purchase catalyzed an obsession: he would bring a crystal-tipped wand to restaurants to decide what to order, he memorized almost every crystal and their associated energy, and when Heidi was in hellish pain after a series of surgeries, he believes the sugilite crystal he purchased is what relieved her when prescription painkillers could not.
In early 2017, The Hills was no longer on the air and the couple was trying to stay financially sound. So, Heidi put the kibosh on Spencer’s crystal collection.
“She told me about four years ago, ‘You have 1,000-plus crystals…. You can’t buy any more.’ But then she was like, ‘well, you can sell the ones you have and use that money to buy more.’”
What started as selling his personal crystals one by one via Snapchat has turned into a profitable endeavor — pre-pandemic, Pratt Daddy was making more than $350,000 each month.
“Google the history of stones, and people all over the planet, all over the world have had stones,” Pratt says. “Big religious leaders have had stones, there are stones in crowns.” Pratt points out that there are stones in King Tut’s tomb and that electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla said crystals are living beings with energy.
“Maybe I’m not crazy, because people have been using these for thousands of years,” he said.
The crystals are all curated by Spencer, hand-crafted by master artisans, and “guaranteed to make you shine.” With over 100 crystal pendants, dozens of bracelets and crystals as home decor, there’s a crystal frequency for everyone in your life. For more information visit www.prattdaddy.com to find Pratt Daddy crystals. Use code “WAKEUPCALL” for 20% off.*
Written by Adriana Fazio.
*Some exclusions may apply: 20% off sitewide, excluding chains.
