Orexin neurons in the hypothalamus regulate physiological functions, including energy homeostasis and wakefulness, and are also related to motivation. Here, we examined the roles of orexin neurons in motivated behaviors. We measured the activities of orexin neurons using fiber photometry under a free-moving condition, in which the rats were subjected to the fixed ratio (FR) or progressive ratio (PR) schedule of a touchscreen-based automated operant task. To measure the activities of orexin neurons, AAV-FLEX-GCaMP7s was injected into the hypothalamus of Orexin-Cre rats. We found that under FR5 conditions in which rats were able to obtain a food pellet by touching the screen consecutively five times, the activity in orexin neurons was increased after the fifth screen touch (after which one food pellet is delivered). The activity peaked before rats obtained reward, and then decreased after food intake. Next, we included non-reward trials in the FR5 test in which the rat was not able to earn reward even after touching the screen five times. The orexin activities in non-reward trials were also increased after the fifth screen touch, but the decrease after food intake was diminished compared to those in reward-trials. In the PR schedule test, the orexin activities were gradually increased. Together, these observations suggest that the orexin activities are associated with motivational behaviors, and that orexin neurons may be involved in craving and reward prediction, and satisfaction.