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 related to motivated behavior under the fixed ratio (FR) schedule of a touchscreen-based automated operant task using fiber photometry. For this purpose, AAV-FLEX-hM3Dq-mCherry or AAV-FLEX-GCaMP7s was injected into the hypothalamus of Orexin-Cre rats. We found that orexinergic activation induced an increase of breaking point in a progressive ratio test. 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 food would be delivered) but not after the fourth touch. The activity peaked before rats obtained reward, and then decreased after food intake. These observations suggest that the orexin activities changed in motivative behaviors, and that orexin neurons may be involved in craving and reward prediction.